Messina Earthquake and Tsunami (1908): Europe's Deadliest Quake

The Messina earthquake struck the Strait of Messina in southern Italy before dawn on 28 December 1908, followed within minutes by a destructive tsunami. It destroyed most of the Sicilian city of Messina and much of Reggio Calabria on the mainland opposite, killing an estimated 75,000 to 82,000 people. It is regarded as the deadliest earthquake in modern European history.

Background

The Strait of Messina, the narrow channel between Sicily and the toe of the Italian peninsula, lies in one of the most seismically active zones in Europe. The region had suffered severe earthquakes before, including the Sicily earthquake of 1693 and the Calabrian earthquakes of 1783, which killed tens of thousands of people.

By 1908 Messina was a busy port of around 150,000 people, with an old cathedral, a university and a waterfront of grand buildings. Reggio Calabria, across the strait, was a smaller city. Many buildings in both places were made of rubble masonry held together with weak mortar, with heavy roofs and floors that made them dangerous in strong shaking. Italy had become a unified state only a few decades earlier, after the Risorgimento, and the south was poorer and less developed than the north.

The earthquake and tsunami

At about 5:20 a.m. on Monday 28 December 1908, a powerful earthquake struck beneath the strait. Its magnitude is estimated at about 7.1, and the main shaking lasted roughly 30 to 40 seconds. Most people were asleep at home, and many were killed instantly as buildings collapsed on them in the dark.

Around ten minutes later, a tsunami reached the shores of the strait. Waves of several metres, and up to about 12 metres in some places, swept across the waterfronts of Messina, Reggio and nearby towns, drowning survivors who had fled towards the sea and wrecking boats and harbour installations. Fires broke out among the ruins, and heavy rain fell in the following days.

In Messina an estimated 90 per cent of buildings were destroyed or badly damaged. Telegraph lines were cut, and news reached Rome only slowly, mainly through messages relayed by ships. Strong aftershocks continued for weeks and brought down more damaged structures.

Why the damage was so severe

Several factors combined to make the Messina earthquake so deadly. The epicentre lay very close to two large cities, and the shaking was among the strongest ever recorded in Italy, rated XI on the Mercalli intensity scale, a scale devised by the Italian volcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli only a few years earlier. The timing, before dawn on a winter morning, meant that almost everyone was indoors.

Building quality was the decisive factor. Many houses had been rebuilt after earlier earthquakes using rounded river stones and poor lime mortar, and some had extra storeys added over the years. When the shaking began, walls burst outwards and heavy floors collapsed one onto another, leaving little space for survivors. Public buildings, barracks, churches and the cathedral were also badly damaged, and many soldiers, officials and police were among the dead, which crippled the local response.

Scientists still debate exactly which fault caused the earthquake. Most studies point to a fault beneath the strait itself, along which the ground dropped by up to about a metre on parts of the Calabrian and Sicilian coasts, but its precise position and shape remain uncertain.

Rescue and relief

The first organised help came from the sea. A squadron of the Russian Baltic Fleet, which happened to be in Sicilian waters, arrived on 29 December, and its sailors worked for days digging survivors from the rubble. British warships of the Mediterranean Fleet followed, and later American naval vessels brought food and supplies.

King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena travelled to the area and visited the ruins, and the Queen helped care for the injured. The government of Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti declared a state of siege, and troops were sent to keep order and help with the rescue. Critics at the time and later historians have argued that the Italian state’s response was slow and poorly coordinated in the first days.

Survivors were evacuated by ship to Naples, Palermo and other cities. Some people were pulled alive from the ruins many days after the disaster. Governments and charities around the world raised money for relief, and the United States Congress approved emergency funds.

Key people

Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, became a visible symbol of national solidarity by visiting the stricken cities. Queen Elena was praised for her work among the injured. The historian Gaetano Salvemini, then a professor at the University of Messina, survived but lost his wife, his five children and his sister in the collapse of their home, a tragedy that became one of the best-known personal stories of the disaster.

Consequences

The earthquake had long-lasting effects on the region. Tens of thousands of survivors lived for years in wooden huts, known as baracche, and some of these temporary settlements survived for decades. Many people left Sicily and Calabria altogether, adding to the large wave of emigration from southern Italy to the Americas.

The disaster also changed Italian building law. In 1909 the government issued a royal decree setting rules for construction in earthquake zones, generally regarded as Italy’s first national seismic building code. It limited building heights and required stronger construction methods in the affected area.

Messina was rebuilt over the following decades with wider streets, lower buildings and reinforced concrete, following a new town plan drawn up after the disaster. Much of the old city was lost forever, and the rebuilt town looks very different from the one destroyed in 1908.

Legacy and memory

The earthquake was one of the first great disasters recorded on film. Cameramen and photographers such as Luca Comerio recorded the ruins in the weeks afterwards, and images of the destroyed city were published in newspapers across Europe and North America.

The role of foreign sailors is still remembered in Messina, especially that of the Russian squadron, whose help is commemorated in the city. The disaster also became a reference point for later Italian earthquakes, and debates over whether to build a bridge across the Strait of Messina have always had to take into account the seismic risk demonstrated in 1908.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1908, 28 December, about 5:20 a.m.: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes the Strait of Messina.
• 1908, 28 December, minutes later: A tsunami hits the coasts of Sicily and Calabria.
• 1908, 29 December: Russian sailors arrive in Messina and begin rescue work.
• 1908, 30 December: King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena reach the disaster area.
• 1909, January: Survivors continue to be evacuated; foreign aid ships bring supplies.
• 1909, April: A royal decree introduces Italy’s first national seismic building rules.

Why it matters

The Messina earthquake was one of the worst natural disasters in European history. It exposed how deadly poorly built cities could be in an earthquake zone, prompted Italy’s first modern seismic building rules and became a powerful example of international solidarity in the face of catastrophe.