Houses engulfed.—In the vicinity of Oppido, the central point from which the earthquake diffused its violent movements, many houses were swallowed up by the yawning earth, which closed immediately over them. In the adjacent district, also, of Cannamaria four farm-houses, several oil-stores, and some spacious dwelling-houses were so completely engulfed in one chasm, that not a vestige of them was afterwards discernible. The same phenomena occurred at Terranuova, S. Christina, and Sinopoli. The Academicians state particularly, that when deep abysses had opened in the argillaceous strata of Terranuova, and houses had sunk into them, the sides of the chasms closed with such violence, that, on excavating afterwards to recover articles of value, the workmen found the contents and detached parts of the buildings jammed together so as to become one compact mass. It is unnecessary to accumulate examples of similar occurrences; but so many are well authenticated during this earthquake in Calabria, that we may, without hesitation, yield assent to the accounts of catastrophes of the same kind repeated again and again in history, where whole towns are declared to have been engulfed, and nothing but a pool of water or tract of sand left in their place.
Chasm formed near Oppido.—On the sloping side of a hill near Oppido a great chasm opened; and, although a large quantity of soil was precipitated into the abyss, together with a considerable number of olive-trees and part of a vineyard, a great gulf remained after the shock, in the form of an amphitheatre, 500 feet long and 200 feet deep. (See [fig. 79].)
Chasm formed by the earthquake of 1783, near Oppido in Calabria.
Dimensions of new fissures and chasms.—According to Grimaldi, many fissures and chasms, formed by the first shock of February 5th, were greatly widened, lengthened, and deepened by the violent convulsions of March 28th. In the territory of San Fili this observer found a new ravine, half a mile in length, two feet and a half broad, and twenty-five feet deep; and another of similar dimensions in the territory of Rosarno. A ravine nearly a mile long, 105 feet broad and thirty feet deep, opened in the district of Plaisano, where, also, two gulfs were caused—one in a place called Cerzulle, three-quarters of a mile long, 150 feet broad, and above one hundred feet deep; and another at La Fortuna, nearly a quarter of a mile long, above thirty feet in breadth, and no less than 225 feet deep.
Chasm in the hill of St. Angelo, near Soriano, in Calabria, caused by the earthquake of 1783.
In the district of Fosolano three gulfs opened: one of these measured 300 feet square, and above thirty feet deep; another was nearly half a mile long, fifteen feet broad, and above thirty-feet deep; the third was 750 feet square. Lastly, a calcareous mountain, called Zefirio, at the southern extremity of the Italian peninsula, was cleft in two for the length of nearly half a mile, and an irregular breadth of many feet. Some of these chasms were in the form of a crescent. The annexed cut ([fig. 80]) represents one by no means remarkable for its dimensions, which remained open by the side of a small pass over the hill of St. Angelo, near Soriano. The small river Mesima is seen in the foreground.