Dec. 27, 2008: commissioned and published linoleum cut illustration by the New York Times’ Op-Ed, “A Deadly Wave, a Lucky Star” by John Bemelmans Marcianone
“Tsunami”-The New York Times – Op-Ed – Dec. 28, 2008 – Linoleum Cut :11″x8″- 30x20cm
1908 – ‘tsunami’ in Italy
“There was no time to outrun the water, but someone pushed my grandfather up into an olive tree along with his little brother, whom Lorenzo held onto with all his strength. The roar of the sea was deafening — the tidal wave crested at more than 40 feet — and fight though Lorenzo did, the impact broke his clutch on Giuseppe. No one will ever know how long my grandfather wandered the ruined coast, calling out the names of his brother, of his family. Everything Lorenzo had ever known was destroyed. Across the straits, Messina — one of the most ancient cities in Europe — had been annihilated. More than 50,000 were dead. It took only a few hours for civilization to break down among the survivors. Looting ran rampant; thieves cut fingers from the dead rather than waste time prying their rings off. The 1908 earthquake stands as the most lethal natural disaster in recorded European history. (And only the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 has dwarfed it recently.) Nearly 100,000 people perished, including all 16 of my grandfather’s relatives in Via Madonell ” – an excerpt by John Bemelmans Marcianone, one of the rare survivor at the time . Even so there was no nuclear condition to worry about, nearly 100.000 lives were lost.
