culture
December’s tragedies and triumphs
by Martin Morana
Installation of Malta’s first power station On December 1st 1886, Malta’s Governor, Sir Arthur Lyon Fremantle, inaugurated the first electricity-generating power station. This was constructed below Crucifix Hill, Floriana. This, however, was not the first time that electricity was generated in Malta. Already in 1882, electricity was produced by a dynamo-generator to light up the Royal Opera House and St George’s Square, Valletta, on festive occasions. One must bear in mind that in the early 1880s, Thomas Edison had perfected his incandescent lamp and was also working on a power station that would supply the whole city of New York with electricity. The power station that was built in Malta was to run on coal fuel until many decades later. This technology could produce 2000 volts – enough to supply electricity only to certain areas of Valletta, Floriana and the Cottonera. Up until the end of the 19th century, most of the island’s towns and villages were to retain their old lighting systems both in the streets as well as indoors. Generally speaking, the streets were lit up by gas lamps or oil lamps in glass jars. For interior lighting, candles, oil lamps or paraffin lamps were used. It was only in 1930 that the power station replaced coal with fuel oil. Electricity in most towns and villages arrived quite late. Ħal Tarxien and Ħaż-Żebbuġ for example, had their electricity supply provided in the 1920s. Gozo, mainly Victoria and a few other localities, was to have electricity supplied in 1926. With the power station installed, the tram railway system as a new means of mechanised transport was introduced in 1905.
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vida.com.mt Issue 36 December 2012
The Messina earthquake and Malta At 05:30 on the morning of December 29th 1908, a great earthquake shook the city of Messina at the tip of the North Eastern side of Sicily, and Reggio, on Italy’s mainland, to the core. This and several other subsequent tremors were so powerful that the entire city was razed to the ground. The earthquake also caused a tsunami that affected certain coastal regions of Sicily and Italy’s mainland. The eathquake was also felt in Malta, but there were no reports of deaths or damage to buildings. However, it was noted that the sea around Malta had swelled to rise in certain areas by some one metre. In the port of Marsamxett, the water rushed inland and even reached and entered houses that were situated on low lying land in Msida. Immediately after the earthquake, the British authorities in Malta sent numerous Royal Navy ships from the Grand Harbour, to provide food supplies, medicines and doctors to see to the needs of the surviving poplulation of Messina and the surrounding areas. With the earthquake striking at a time when most people were asleep at home, more than half the population of the town was buried beneath the rubble. It was estimated that some 70,000 to 120,000 people had been killed in that region, and that thousands more were left homeless.