THROWBACKTHISDAY, JAN 13; An earthquake in Avezzano, Italy kills 29,800

                             

The 1915 Avezzano earthquake occurred on January 13, 1915 in Central Italy, in the province of L'Aquila. The epicenter was located in the town of Avezzano. More than 30,000 direct fatalities resulted from the earthquake, destroying the epicentral area. The earthquake took place at around 8:00 local time affecting thousands of people throughout central and southern Italy; the shaking was even felt in Rome. The town of Avezzano was literally toppled from the shaking and only one high-rise building survived. Ninety-six percent of its population was eliminated almost simultaneously, the worst casualty zone. Several other settlements were demolished in the worst of the earthquake. This damage was attributed to the length of the shock, over 1 minute, and the enormous amount of energy released during the tremor. Compound motion of the fault was also a likely contributor to the earthquake's destruction. The structure of the housing also contributed to the collapse; many homes had been built from simple rocks of varying size and were not reinforced by mortar or even wood.

Damage of the earthquake was distributed throughout central and southern Italy. St John's Lateran reported one fallen statue in addition to cracks in the Column of Marcus Aurelius; Rome experienced other minor damages. In fact, damage from the earthquake was diverse; either the location was destroyed or experienced little to no damage.

Survivors were pulled out slowly from the ruins of earthquake-stricken zones. One man survived in a barn for a period of 25 days living solely off of grains and water. After a short time the searchers ran out of space to dispose of the debris as it was too overwhelming in mass, forcing the workers to give up. As E.V. Robinson later described, the remaining "work of excavation seemed to go on in an unsystematic and half hearted way".

THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 101 years and TBT Blog remembers.