The province of Calabria in Italy was visited at 3
a:m. on September 8th with one of its dreadful earthquakes. At least three towns and ten villages were almost completely destroyed, and the numbers killed or injured, now that fuller returns have come in, are estimated at several thousands. The population unhoused, or too alarmed to remain under shelter, are camping out in tents and improvised huts, and many of them are starving. The majority of dwellings in Calabria are exceedingly frail, but the earthquake threw down barracks and churches. The Government is sending soldiers and assistance, and the King has distinguished himself on the spot by the assiduity and courage with which he has super. vised measures of relief. Calabria is remarkable for the frequency with which earthquakes are felt there. One which occurred in 1783 is said to have cost sixty thousand lives. The panic which accompanies an earthquake leaves terrible effects on the nerves,—the people in many places appealed to the King for protection, though, of course, his Majesty was as powerless against the forces of Nature as any peasant. It is noticeable that in Calabria, as elsewhere, such occurrences are speedily forgotten, and it is quite possible that the King's advice to build more carefully, and on better protected sites, will be silently rejected.
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