A few months before the Kingdom of Italy 's official entry into World War I , the disastrous 1915 earthquake almost completely destroyed the city of Avezzano , razing to the ground a lot of centers in Marsica and the nearby provinces as well . Because of the earthquake , the city recorded a population loss of about 90 % . Despite everything , the few young men who had survived and belonged to the age classes of the last years of the nineteenth century were not exempted from military service and were called to the recruitment in the army at war and to the mobilization towards the Karst Plateau . In a short time , the youth who had survived the earthquake had to abandon the devastated areas , leaving a real generation void . In order to support the reconstruction of the city , in the second half of 1916 the Salandra government decided to install Central Italy 's largest concentration camp for Austro-Hungarian war prisoners . Capable to house about 15,000 internees and 1,000 Royal Italian Army officers and soldiers in charge of guard , the camp also had a larger extension than Abruzzo internment camps and Servigliano imprisonment camp . Officially coded as PG091 , the camp was located in an area north of the city , in a piece of land of about , where 192 masonry and wooden pavilions were erected for prisoners ' shelter and logistical services
1915 earthquake
1915 Avezzano earthquake
Avezzano concentration camp