Great Lisbon Earthquake
As we are facing new environmental disasters this reminded me about the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. Although this incident was probably not even remotely caused by humans, scientists speculate that people can contribute to increases in seismicity. Usually, the Induced Seismicity creates earthquakes of low magnitude, however, the United States Geological Survey theorise that some of the most significant earthquakes in Oklahoma lately could have been caused by deep injection of wastewater by oil companies. Building dames and huge and heavy buildings could also contribute to the changes in tectonic activity. In the face of the fires in Australia, it's good to know the possibilities of the plausible catastrophes, as it may have a positive impact on our lifestyle. Besides, the story, as tragic as it is, is worth remembering as those events lead to the foundation of seismology and contributed to some engineering enchantment and slightly diminished the power of the church in favour of science.
A drawing of the Lisbon earthquake of Nov. 1, 1755.
The earthquake happened on the 1st of November, 1755. It was All Saints' Day, which means not only locals were celebrating in the city, but residents from nearby villages came too. Even the king of Portugal was in the affected area, fortunately not in the city but at the beach at his daughter's request. Thanks to his report we know a lot more about the catastrophe. The first shockwave wasn't as destructive as the next one, seismologists estimate, based on King's notes, it had a magnitude of 8,5 to 9. To compare, the latest earthquake in Indonesia (2018) with huge media coverage that took a large number of casualties was only 7.5.
Earthquake scale
In those times people didn't realise what was the cause of such a phenomenon. Moreover, the city was at its peak at the time. The gold and diamonds Portuguese inquired form their colonies in Brazil have founded wealthy districts, huge palace and many churches. As the relations tells us all of the churches bells rang at the same time. No wonder people thought the event is some kind of punishment from god. After the earthquake, Lisboans tried to escape the unstable walls. Many have decided to stay in ports, where no wall could fall on them. Little did they know, as the epicentre was in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 200 kilometres away from Lisbon, the Tsunami was already on its way. Around 30 minutes after the earthquake, the water has filled the streets of Lisbon causing more damage. If that wasn't enough, some of the buildings and ruins had caught fire. Due to the All Saints' Day celebrations, there were a lot of candles, mostly in churches. As they fell over they easily set fire on the broken pieces of furniture.
Reconstruction of Lisbon around 1755 and the earthquake, tsunami and fire that destroyed the city on November 1st that year. It is an adaptation of the documentary "God's Wrath" (episode 5 of the series "Perfect Storms: Disasters that Changed the World", aired 2013).
What we now call the Great Lisbon Earthquake was, in fact, a mixture of three events: an earthquake, a tsunami and multiple fires. It was one of the biggest disasters ever, and surely the biggest of its time. Now cities have much more inhabitants than in the 18th century, at this time the 40 000 - 60 000 people that died was a quarter of the Lisbon population and around three-quarters of city structure has collapsed. The shakings were feelable in Morocco and the waves have come all the way to Brazil. After these events, the king became terrified of walls and he spent the rest of his life in the tents.
Tsunami Forecast Model Animation: Lisbon 1755
Fortunately, Lisbon was rebuilt and restructured to be stronger against earthquakes, featuring flexible wooden beams to ensure the structure endure future catastrophes. The city is definitely worth visiting, Alfama district that has survived it all is wonderful, although the newer, 265 y.o., carefully design districts with straight streets are unique too.
My own photo - Alfama
- Have you ever been to Lisbon?
- Have you heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before?
- What catastrophe scares you the most and why? Fires? Earthquakes? Something else?
Links:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/nature/what-happened-to-the-richter-scale.aspx
https://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/tsunami-portugal-1755#.Xh12xsj0mUk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMBuLuA47Wo
https://www.britannica.com/event/Lisbon-earthquake-of-1755
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake#Intensity_of_earth_quaking_and_magnitude_of_earthquakes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_seismicity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake
Comments
I've neither ever heard of Great Lisbon Earthquake before.
That is not an easy question. What kind of catastrophe I would be most afraid of, would depend whether I was in my city (which is Warsaw), I was anywhere else (I am way more likely to be afraid of volcano when I am near one, rather than in Warsaw).
Living here, I'd be most afraid of heavy hail storm.
gif: https://9gag.com/gag/a9ROM30
more info: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-20/australia-wild-weather-hail-rain-storms-lightning-dust/11883496
No, I've never been to Lisbon before. This city is on my list TODO travel :)
2. Have you heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before?
Yes, I've heard of the great Lisbon earthquake before. Lisbon will suffer a lot of losses.
3. What catastrophe scares you the most and why? Fires? Earthquakes? Something else?
The fears most frighten me. The earth then becomes barren. This can lead to famine in your area. Many people and animals die as well. This is very scary for me.
While getting my facts straights for this comment I found an interesting article if anybody is interested. It's about the importance of wildfires and the effect they have on the ecosystem.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160722-why-we-should-let-raging-wildfires-burn
However, this was a little out of topic, I strongly agree with you that fires are the scariest of all the catastrophes. For me, the worst part is not the flames itself but the fact you will pass out due to smoke and lack of oxygen and you won't even have a chance to escape.
1. I've been to Lisbon twice. I really like Portugal, I prefer the ocean than the sea. Excellent food and climate make me gladly go back there. Lisbon itself is a great big city with a lot of diversity.
2. I was familiar with this event, but nothing more.
3. I'm afraid of flooding because I live in floodplains. In general, nothing comes to me when it comes to natural disasters in Poland it is quite safe. In general, the worst that could have been is the war i think, not a natural catastrophe.
3. In my opinion the scariest natural catastrophe is earthquake as well, especially if they occur in previously seismic stable zones, where building are not capable of surviving such event. But really even in Poland people die from time to time when there are storms in Spring. I remember that one time after an hour of storming 5 people died because of trees falling on them...
Unfortunately, I never visited it but I really want to. Portugal in general is a rather attractive country for me, because of its history and traditions, and also because of a climate that is different from ours.
Have you heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before?
Never heard of it. Perhaps the only modern natural disaster in Europe I've heard of is the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption.
What catastrophe scares you the most and why? Fires? Earthquakes? Something else?
Well, there are 2 options: either global warming and as the result flood, or the explosion of something atomic (Chernobyl or Hiroshima as an example). The worst part is that both options will be provoked by human and the question of when it will happen is only a matter of time - which is more frightening than an unexpected earthquake, because with that thought have to live.
1. No, I haven't, though I've heared a lot of good things about it and I'm sure I will pay Lisbon a visit in the future.
2. No, I haven't.
3. I think all of them are equally scary. Some people just do not realize what this kind of danger cataclysms are.
And, yes, as I mentioned before, people seem to not realise what are the possible catastrophes in their region until they live through one...
No, I have never been to Lisbon
2. Have you heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before?
Again no, I have never heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before
3. What catastrophe scares you the most and why? Fires? Earthquakes? Something else?
Catastrophe that scares me the most is the one that threatens my life and I take part in it. It’s doesn’t matter if this is a fire, earthquakes or tsunami they are all scary.
Unfortunately I've never been to Lisbon but I would love to visit this city.
Have you heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before?
I've never heard about it before.
What catastrophe scares you the most and why? Fires? Earthquakes? Something else?
I think the disaster that scares me the most is the volcano eruption. This would involve a sudden clouding of the sky by volcanic ash and lava escaping from the volcano.
2. Not really. I can't remember. However it is possible someone mentioned it but i can't recall.
3. I think the scariest one for me is not really natural disaster but rather than this catastrophes that people can induce ( I mean wars, and using nuclear weapons). There is no such a thing in nature that scares me more than this. I feel like after any natural disaster there are advantages and disadvantages of their aftermaths. But after nuclear explosion everything seems horrifying and frightens me.
2. No, I haven't heard about this earthquake, but judging from this article, It must've been very devastating.
3. I think that Tsunamis scares me the most. I can't find any reason why I think it's scary, but it's by the elimination of other natural cataclysms. Tsunami is the one that I would like to be in the least
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY_3ggKg0Bc
I think that this weeks post about nuclear weapon got deep into us. You are right, probably human is now crueller then nature.
1. No, unfotunetly I have never had an opportunity to be there, but I would like a lot to visit this city one day. It has a lot to offer to tourists who likes history like me.
2. No, I have never heard about it, but the reason of it is, I have not visited it yet so I am not interested in the past of it.
3. In Poland, the first catastrophe and the most common is the flood. I dont think there are any others. It scares me the most because the water is very dangerous. On the other hand we can prepare for it, building some embankments. It is doing less damage than earthquakes but, in Poland we do not have the big ones.
In my opinion, floods are generally not so sudden and easy to predict, that's why I'm not very much scared of them. They can destroy buildings and infrastructure but I have a chance to escape. However, they resolve in future crisis such as scarcity or transportation failure, which for the injured can be critical. That's why floods are generally a significant catastrophe.
It is interesting to see that most of you answered floods because you are in possibly affected zones. I haven't thought about it this way, but I'm glad that you know the odds.
2. No, I haven't heard of it before.
3. I think the worst would be an earthquake, it would be hard to escape from it.
Have you ever been to Lisbon?
I haven't been there yet but Portugal is in my bucket-list.
Have you heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before?
I haven't heard it till this post. thanks for sharing.
What catastrophe scares you the most and why? Fires? Earthquakes? Something else?
earthquakes are quite scary, and then fires. right now i thought and all the catastophes are scary me.
Never heard about it, actually i wasn't even aware that there could be such earthquakes in Europe.
I don't know why but i was always scared of volcanoes. When I was a kid I went to Pompei with my parents and to this day I have memories of it in my head. I would like to be anywhere near volcano when it errupts.
No I did not go. One of the places I want to go
Have you heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before?
No I hadn't heard. I learned right now.
What catastrophe scares you the most and why? Fires? Earthquakes? Something else?
Last days was a big earthquake in Turkey. 38 people died. It is a very sad situation. People from all provinces flocked for relief and participated in rescue efforts
No, I have never been to Lisbon, but I plan to visit the city in near future. It is amazing to see the city with great history and with access to ocean in Europe.
Have you heard about the Great Lisbon Earthquake before?
No, I just descovered it to myself now.
What catastrophe scares you the most and why? Fires? Earthquakes? Something else?
It is difficult to say what scares me, but from all possible catastrophes I would choose the fires and epidems. I think the latest news are causing the fears.
2) No, I didn't apparently I learned something new today. It seems great cities often have a complicated history.
3) I think it is either an unmanageable pandemic or something of planetary scale, for example, having a big enough asteroid hitting the earth. I believe the scariest ones are the ones you can do nothing about.
2. Yes, I heard about it at school. It was a great tragedy, which happened a long time ago but has an impact on the inhabitants to this day. As it was mentioned in the material Lisbon has been completely rebuilt to avoid the effects of similar situations in the future.
3. Nature is beautiful but unpredictable. Everything that is related to this, fires and earthquakes and floods makes me fear and anxiety because I know that in a clash with nature human never has a chance.
2. I've never heard of this disaster. I was very interested in this topic after reading your article.
3. Hmm it's difficult to pick one. I'm really scared about fires and tsunami. I can't imagine what an earthquake looks like, but I'm also afraid of it. All these disasters are terrible.
I have heard about it. Not heard, but read. I had a book, a book series about ‘everything’ – historical places, stories, individuals, world`s wonders etc.
On my opinion, the most scary catastrophe is the global flood or depletion of ozone layer. Because I don’t want to die of suffocation. The most horrible death. Actually, fires make less air in atmosphere, so I`m adding this disaster to the list. Every catastrophe is scary, people are dying and it doesn`t inspire at all…
Haha, sorry for scaring you. But don't worry, if you live in Poland there is not much that can happen.
When you will get there you will see the difference in architecture, the oldest part of Lisbon is a bit chaotic and the newer districts are in strict order. Also, be sure to take the subway and go to the new districts at the and of line, it is like time travel!
Oh yes, volcano eruptions were already mentioned in the previous comments and my first thought was also about Pompei. I can't imagine how devastating it must have been for the locals.
Yeah, epidemic topics are in right now in the face of what is happening in China...
2. I have never heard of it.
3. I think of fire because it is probably the hardest to control.