The 1755 Earthquake of Lisbon
The 1755 Earthquake of Lisbon
The 1755 Earthquake of Lisbon
On themorning of the 1st of November 1755, one of Europe largest earthquakes struck Lisbon, by the end of the week 75,000 people in Lisbon alone had died as a direct result of the quake,making the earthquake of 1755one of themost deadly the world had ever seen.
The 1stof November was the holy feast of all saints and Lisbon with its deep rooted religious pasthad packed the grand churches for this holy of day. Every possible candle waslit as part of the religious celebrations and these initiated the fires whichranged for 5 days after the quake.
The quake started partway through the longLatin services at 10:24. There has been much discussion on the estimated sizeof the earth quake but the strength was enough to bring down the stone wallsand roofs of dozens of churches across Lisbon. The destruction included the cathedral of the Se and Carmo (which remainingskeleton over looks Rossio) the grand library, the royal palace and most of thearea of Baxia. One of the surprise building which did not collapse was theMositorary de Jeromnes in Belem with its spindly stone columns which were ableto support the vast roof.
The quake shock Lisbonfor a devastating 3 and a half minutes, in this time 2 meter wide cracksdeveloped in the streets and people feared the end of the world. The petrified inhabitantsof Lisbonevacuated the destruction of the churches for the relative safety of the opendock lands unaware of the impending tsunami.
The epicentreof the quake was 200 Km from Cape Vicentein theAtlantic Ocean and estimates have gauged the magnitudeof the quake as high as magnitude 9.0. This massive slip of theAzores-Gibraltar transform fault produced one of the largest tsunamis to hit Europe.
In the45 minutes after the quake had subsided Lisbon's population couldn't believe their luck"as in gift from god" the water drained from the Tagus River revealing the contents of countless shipwrecks to the busy docks.Thousands of people raced into the muddy river base to claim the riches thatwere revealing themselves as the water raced out prior to the tsunami hitting.
The tsunamiwas funnelled up the estuary of the Tagus and rapidlyflooding all low lying land of the downtown area and the harbour.
A quote of thetime reads
"(thetsunami) arrived so fast that several people riding on horseback ... wereforced to gallop as fast as possible to the upper grounds for fear of beingcarried away"
Theincoming water did extinguish many of the raging fires but thousands were either drowned or dragged out by the currents exiting currents. There weretwo further 2 tsunami waves in the following3 hours to further punish the city.
Thoseareas which escaped the torrents of water were ravaged by fires caused by the candles toppling over and igniting the flowers and decorations laid out for thecelebrations of all saints. These fires raged for 5 days as and at which pointover 90% of the builds in Lisbonhad either be demolished due to the quake, flooded under the tsunami or burntto the ground. The destruction included, the 70,000-volume royal library and the royal RibeiraPalace.
King Joseph I of Portugal survived the Earth quake due to his daughter wishing to spend the public holiday at the coast, so the royal court attended an earlier church service. The king for the remainder of his life refused to live in walled buildings and moved the entire royal court to a giant tented complex outside of Lisbon where he remained until his death.
The prime minister Sebastio de Melo, who history cane to know as the Marquis of Pombal, proved to be an adept leader in the face of such a catastrophe. When asked what to do immediately after the quake, Pombal replied "Bury the dead and heal the living". He overruled the church and prevented an epidemic of diseases by load the dead onto damaged ships and burning the bodies out to sea.
In just over a month on the 4th December 1755 the chief engineer Manuel da Maia haddesigned 5 plans for the rebuilding of Lisbon. Pombal choose the complete redesign of Rossio and Baxia and implement the first grid system which was copied the world over.
The plan included the reconstruction of the Carmo Convent,but Pombal wished to remain a ruin so that the Earth quake of 1755 may never be forgotten. The statue of the Marquis of Pombal stands at the top of the avenue de Libidard over looking his mater piece of Rossio.
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