American Village, Reggio.
In the outskirts of Reggio, ten miles away across the Strait, upon another beautiful plateau, at the same time, was rising another American village of one thousand cottages. On the Northern boundary of Messina, sheltered by a towering hill, and commanding a lovely view of sea and mountain, is a pretty village of small wooden houses named after the Queen of Italy, Villagio Regina Elena. In this village the Americans have erected about one hundred houses. At the expressed wish of the Queen they have also built a small but model hospital of six pavilions. To this institution the Queen has given the name of “Elizabeth Griscom Hospital,” in honor of the wife of the American Ambassador to Italy.
All of these building operations are under the direction of Lieutenant Commander Belknap. In this he has had the efficient assistance of Lieutenant Allan Buchanan and Ensign J. W. Wilcox, two capable young American naval officers assigned to this duty from the naval yacht Scorpion, which spent the spring in the harbor at Naples. John Elliott, the well-known American artist of Rome, laid aside his brush and willingly became the architect and draftsman for this extensive American project. With headquarters in Reggio, Mr. Winthrop Chanler, of New York, took charge of the building of over two hundred American houses in some of the smaller towns near Reggio. Several young noblemen of Rome, fired with zeal to help in the work of relief, joined Mr. Chanler and, under his guidance, spent some weeks in individually going among the people in the ruined villages of Calabria, studying their particular needs and supplying them with tools, sewing machines, and other equipment necessary to enable them to become self-supporting.
At the end of March the lumber from America had been all unloaded from the five ships that carried it to Italy, the working forces engaged in putting up the cottages had been completely organized and Captain Belknap had the great satisfaction of reporting that twenty-four complete houses were erected every working day of ten hours. The American houses are turned over to the municipal authorities of Messina and Reggio and the assignment of the houses to individual families is in the hands of the municipal officers.
It should not be supposed that America is the only agency engaged in building temporary homes. Some have been built by other countries and a very large number by the provinces of Italy. I was informed at the office of the Minister of Public Works in Rome that sites had been assigned at the end of March for the erection of fifteen thousand eight hundred temporary houses. Considering the size of the average Calabrian or Sicilian family, it is probable that these temporary buildings will provide shelter for most of the survivors of the earthquake who are unable to obtain homes through other means.
Attitude of Italian Authorities.
This informal account of the situation in the earthquake zone, two months after the disaster, cannot with justice be closed without a word of appreciation, of the extremely friendly and helpful attitude of the Italian authorities. They gave every possible facility to Captain Belknap and his assistants, and the engineer who represented the Federal Department of Public Works in Messina co-operated with the American builders constantly and cordially. The Italian Navy assigned one of its brilliant young officers, Commandante Brofferio, to constant duty at the American encampment. He lived on board the supply ship Celtic until it sailed away for America and then with Captain Belknap and the other Americans moved into a group of the new cottages in the American Village. Practical, obliging, tireless and of few words, Commandante Brofferio soon became indispensable and was respected by every one. The Italian Navy also placed at the command of the American officers a torpedo boat for the purpose of conveying Captain Belknap and others back and forth across the Straits of Messina as their duties required. In every way the representatives of America, engaged in the work of Italian relief, have reason to regard the Italian federal and municipal officers, the officers of the army and navy and the heads of the Italian Red Cross and the Central National Committee with feelings of the highest esteem.