Russia's flagship cruiser Moskva set sail Friday for Messina to mark the anniversary of the Russian fleet's participation in an international aid effort after a devastating earthquake in the Sicilian city.

The Moskva will visit Messina from January 27 to 30.

Some 100,000 of the city's 150,000 people died when Messina was hit by Europe's biggest ever tremor, followed by the world's fourth-largest tsunami, on December 28, 1908.

The city was almost completely destroyed, with some 90% of its buildings down.

Six Russian ships, in the Mediterranean on a training mission, sailed from the Sicilian port of Augusta, 90km (52 miles) to the south, to bring some of the first aid.

Survivors were pulled from the rubble and taken to hospitals in Siracusa and Naples.