Great Lisbon earthquake. Lisbon earthquake Seismic activity online and worldwide

Europe's "terrible shock"
Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755

A.A. Nikonov
Andrey Alekseevich Nikonov, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Professor,
Chief Researcher at the Institute of Physics of the Earth named after. O.Yu.Schmidt RAS.

We were all struck by the tsunami - a disaster in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. In general, only 3% of the total number of known tsunamis occur in the Indian Ocean, but the Sumatra tsunami set a record for the number of victims and the volume of losses for many centuries. 9% of the total number of tsunamis occur in the Atlantic Ocean. But here too there is a “record holder” with a number of victims greater than in the Pacific Ocean over the past 100-200 years.

Strong earthquakes, even destructive ones with a large number of victims, are usually forgotten after 30-50 years. The tragedy is remembered on 50th and even 100th anniversaries. But there are disasters that are unforgettable in the civilized world. This is exactly what happened in Europe 250 years ago. J.V. Goethe called this earthquake “a terrible world event”, M.V. Lomonosov wrote about “cruel Lisbon fate.” The earthquake primarily struck the capital of Portugal, but shook, one might say, the whole of Europe, literally and figuratively.

Unprecedented before or since

According to modern estimates, the magnitude of the Lisbon earthquake was M = 8.7 (8.4-8.9), intensity I = X. The event even today falls into the category of exceptional ones. Firstly, these are, of course, truly catastrophic consequences in Portugal itself. And secondly, the scale of propagation of fluctuations. In 1992, a serious European publication wrote about 40-50 thousand victims, although Charles Lyell and I.V. Goethe already knew about 60 thousand dead. Nowadays, in Lisbon alone, the number of victims in 1755 is estimated at 60 thousand people, in neighboring cities 6-8 thousand, in the Spanish trading city of Ayamonte and the surrounding area, about 2 thousand people died (from the tsunami), up to 8-10 thousand died in just one village in Morocco that was caught in a landslide. Casualties in rural areas of Portugal and Africa are unknown.

All the horrors of Lisbon.
Antique engraving

As for the distribution of tremors, they, like the strongest aftershock, were significantly felt within a radius of about 600 km. This is how, for example, the manifestation of an earthquake in Venice is described by the then famous adventurer and womanizer Casanova. While in prison in St. Mark's Square, he was standing in the attic, suddenly began to lose his balance and saw how a huge beam turned, then began to move back in leaps and bounds. With subsequent hesitation, 4-5 seconds later, the guards fled in fear.

In Aachen, in western Germany, the image of the Virgin Mary hanging on the wall suddenly began to swing like a pendulum. Even some churches in Hamburg, in the north of the country, had chandeliers swinging. The blow was felt in Saxony. Weak fluctuations were felt in Holland. Unrest (seiches) have been observed on rivers and lakes in Northern Germany, Southern Sweden, and Iceland. Unusual tides were reported from the coasts of Holland, Ireland, England, and Norway. In the Lesser Antilles, the tide (tsunami), instead of the usual 0.7-0.75 m, rose by 6 m. In one of the ports of Ireland, the wave spun all the ships in a whirlpool and flooded the market square. There were also tsunamis on the islands of the Atlantic Ocean. And the tremors themselves to the west and south of Portugal reached the Azores, Canary Islands and even the Cape Verde Islands, not to mention Madeira. The tremors are estimated to have covered an area of 2-3 million km2. And this despite the fact that the epicenter was far out to sea. What if he were closer to the shore?

Pious Europe was struck not only by the scale of the event in all its manifestations, but by its occurrence on All Saints' Day, moreover, during the main morning service, when the churches were full of parishioners. This could not be regarded as anything other than God's punishment.

It is with annoyance and condemnation that we recall the hushing up of the consequences of disasters in our country. It is interesting to know how the Portuguese press behaved in the mid-18th century. “Lisbon newspaper” from November 6, 1755: “The 1st of this month will remain forever in our memory because of the earthquake and fires that destroyed most of the city...”; from November 13: “Among the terrible consequences of earthquakes<…>Let us note the destruction of the high Tombaugh Tower, where the state archives were kept.” Only that.

Meanwhile, the scale of the disaster was clear (at least in Lisbon) even to the king, who lived with his family and court outside the city. They had to spend day and night in carriages, without any protection or food.

A collapsing city, fires and a rural refugee camp (foreground)
when the royal family visited him.
French engraving

What happened in the city?

Early risk assessment of seismic events is now becoming mandatory. An indispensable component is knowledge of damage from past disasters. From this point of view, it is interesting to cite little-known definitions of material losses in Lisbon itself (see table), made immediately after the earthquake. (Remember that, having lost its leading role in Europe, Portugal in the middle of the 18th century remained a treasury of untold wealth, material and artistic, accumulated in the old days.) And also the missing fleet, church values, especially in numerous monasteries. How can we estimate the destruction of 18 thousand (according to other sources - 70 thousand) volumes of the Royal Library, architectural masterpieces of the medieval city, the richest archive of the Kingdom of Portugal, ancient manuscripts and church archives... 200 paintings by Rubens, Correggio, Titian and others were kept in the royal palace. The priceless library contains world maps (including ancient portolans), incunabula (first printed books before 1500), and the handwritten history of Charles V (mid-16th century).

The young king Don Jose, shocked by the loss of his wealth and power, asked the secretary of state about plans for rebuilding the city. To which the wise Marquis de Pombal responded: “Sir, we must bury the dead and feed the living.”

And there were up to 200 thousand of them in the city.

How it happened

It was a clear sunny day. A truly bright holiday - All Saints' Day. The poor flocked to the early matins, the wealthy townspeople to the late ones. At ten o'clock in the morning the churches, and there were dozens of them in every block, were full of people.

It started at 9:40 am.

The captain, who found himself in the seaport, observed the first shock. Before his eyes, the stone buildings of Lisbon slowly, majestically began to sway from side to side. “like a field of wheat from a light wind.” Within six seconds (while the shock lasted), many buildings collapsed. A second and then a third shock soon followed. The walls of the houses swayed from the west (i.e. from the sea) to the east. Cracks appeared in the soil.

The eyewitnesses were unable to clearly describe what happened next. The first letter from the destroyed city was sent by the English surgeon Wolfalm no earlier than November 22. It did not reach England until the end of the month. The author himself accidentally survived among the four lucky ones out of 34 inhabitants of the house.

“The terrible sight of dead bodies, the screams and groans of the dying, half buried in ruins, is beyond any description; fear and despair so possessed everyone that the most determined people did not dare stop for a moment to move a few stones that crushed their dearest face, although many could have been saved in this way; but no one thought about anything other than their own salvation.<…>The number of deaths in houses and on the streets is incomparable less number victims who met their end under the rubble of churches..." .

For people who have not experienced strong earthquakes in a big city, it is almost impossible to imagine this “Armageddon”. Military generals who went through the war of 1941-1945 admitted, when they saw Ashgabat destroyed in 1948, that it was completely incomparable. We, even who have seen the details of the nightmares in New York, Madrid and London, cannot even remotely imagine a catastrophe that is not local, but universal. And, let us note, no rescue services, no medical assistance, no even minimal information, no basic experience of behavior in an ultra-emergency situation. Naked animal instincts.

Instinct drove the living not away from the city, but closer to the water, in the hope of leaving on ships to sea. The sea seemed to be waiting for the unfortunate.

After 20 minutes, just when crowds of sufferers gathered on the embankment, the first wave 12-15 m high came. And then the new Lisbon embankment collapsed, along with the mass of people who had accumulated on it after the first shock. The evidence is scanty and not entirely reliable, but we are certainly talking about a large landslide in the coastal area during the second shock, i.e. at 10 o'clock in the morning. And this is quite common in seismic situations in coastal areas. But that is not all. Three hours after the devastating aftershocks, open fires caused fires in the kitchens and altars of many churches and places of worship, which, thanks to strong winds and deliberate arson by looters, quickly escalated into a general conflagration. There was no point in putting out the fire, and it raged in the city for five days. The ruins smoldered for the same amount of time. “It seemed that nature wanted to boast of its unbridled tyranny everywhere”[ . S.2].

The ruins of the famous Lisbon Opera House, which had a rich interior.
Based on an engraving by Le-Bas, 1756.

“As soon as we came into a state of reasoning, death was the only thing that presented itself to our imagination. The fear of hunger was terrible". Lisbon was a storage place for grain for the entire region for 50 miles. The fire destroyed the supplies. The robberies began. By order of the king, functioning gallows were placed throughout the city. The bodies of 200 robbers held back the rest. The Marquis de Pombal knew not only what to say to the king, but also what to do.

Three weeks later, one of the residents returned to the western quarter of Lisbon, after which he wrote down: “No sign of streets, passages, squares, etc. Just hills and mountains of smoking ruins.”. Of the 20 thousand houses, less than 3 thousand suitable for habitation remain. 32 churches, more than 75 chapels, 31 monasteries, 53 palaces were irretrievably lost. Food aid arrived from England only towards the end of December.

Meanwhile, during November and December the tremors were repeated. First daily, then every few days. Some of them continued destruction. The strongest aftershock occurred on December 9 and was felt throughout Portugal, Spain, Northern Italy, Southern France, Switzerland and Southern Germany. Several times the tremors were followed by disturbances in the waters of the Tagus River and flooding of its banks. The same thing happened in the first quarter of 1756. In general, seismic activity in the area lasted 10 months, but resumed later, until 1762. Here is a report from November 16, 1761 from Lisbon published in the newspaper “St. Petersburg Vedomosti”: “Almost not a single day goes by that we don’t feel an earthquake here. We have no reason to doubt that from the first day of November 1756.[error, correct 1755 - A.N. ] the ignited underground matter is still smoldering under our feet.”

At least 16 cities in Portugal suffered varying degrees of destruction. There was also destruction in the western part of Spain - in Seville, Malaga, Ayamonte, Albufiera. The city of Setubal, closest to Lisbon, was half destroyed by the earthquake and completely destroyed by the subsequent tsunami (the news was brought by the sailors of the Dutch ship). In Faro, destruction and flooding resulted in 3 thousand deaths. Tsunamis occurred and continued in many coastal locations in Spain. In the city of Cadiz (Gadiz), an entire neighborhood was flooded. About 200 people died. Large cracks appeared in the mountains, and rock falls appeared on the coasts. Similar phenomena were reported from both Gibraltar and Morocco.

Impact on minds

Enlightened people of Europe, primarily philosophers and natural philosophers, could not help but respond to a cataclysm of such magnitude. Of course, books on earthquakes and seismic catalogs had been published from time to time before, but after Lisbon they began to appear one after another. Working at one time in some large libraries of European cities, I was very surprised by the many unknown then, and hitherto, seismological publications in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Old German and English. In 1757, the book “The History and Philosophy of Earthquakes” was published, as well as “Memoiries Historiques et Physiques sur les Tremblements de Terre” by E. Bertrand.

The father of geology, Charles Lyell, could not ignore the Lisbon events. Earthquakes at that time were not classified as physical and geological phenomena, but rather were considered in philosophical categories. Treatises about them were named accordingly. Basically, the authors turned to the classical idea of the four elements of nature. The manifestations of three of them - earth, water and fire - are obvious to us. In the middle of the 18th century. The fourth was also obvious - the element of air. The ancient idea that earthquakes were caused by breakthroughs of air masses from underground voids to the surface still prevailed. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who collected and examined information about the Lisbon earthquake from precisely this position, was forced to doubt the validity of the prevailing ideas, faced with the fact that the event was tangible not only in Central Europe, but also in Northern Germany, i.e. at a distance of 2000-2300 km. Through the lips of his character, the philosopher Pangloss, Voltaire gave an example of the then prevailing ideas: “definitely from Lima[where a strong earthquake occurred before this. - A.N. ] There is a sulfur deposit as far as Lisbon. I say that this has been fully proven.”. It took more than 100 years and many earthquakes before the theory of seismic waves was developed.

For philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, the disaster became a reason to confirm their ideas or (for the majority) to confusion and departure from romanticism to pragmatism. Not only Lisbon, but the past in general seemed destroyed. Optimism was destroyed, the present seemed uncertain. There was no need to think about the future. Voltaire wrote a little later:

Even those who know about the existence of Voltaire’s poem about the death of Lisbon are unlikely to remember that it has a subtitle “or testing the axiom “all is good”.” The poem itself was written by the philosopher precisely to refute the then widespread postulate “All the good that is sent down to us from above.”

Voltaire ridiculed the philosophers who proclaimed: “Individual misfortunes create the common good, so the more such misfortunes, the better” or “if the volcano is in Lisbon, then it cannot be anywhere else; It is impossible for something to be not where it should be, for everything is good.”. Sober-minded people could not help but have the thought: “God, the creator and preserver of heaven and earth, portrayed as wise and merciful in the original teachings of the faith, acted in this case not at all like a father, striking both good and evil alike with death.” .

Today we do not need to be convinced that the seismic life of the Earth continues, causing continuous upheavals. But in the XVII–XVIII centuries. completely different ideas prevailed, and Charles Lyell needed not only knowledge, but also scientific courage to openly declare after the Lisbon earthquake that in the face of “There is no reason to believe from these terrible cataclysms that the earth has come to a state of peace.”

The same Marquis de Pombal, who so openly presented the king with a lesson in humanity and statesmanship in the first days of the disaster, also has merits in seismology (although he has never studied it). It was he who issued a decree on distributing earthquake questionnaires to church parishes. It seems that this was the first experience of this kind of questionnaire in Europe and the world. Modern seismologists testify to the completeness and versatility of the issues, which are almost as good as their current counterparts. It was thanks to those documents preserved in the national archive that the Portuguese seismologist Pereira de Sousa was able to publish the most complete 471-page treatise on the Lisbon disaster 170 years later. In it, among other things, he wrote:

"Ignorance natural sciences, superstition, the inability of the inhabitants to help each other and the inaction of the police increased fear, gave rise to madness and greatly increased the number of victims.”

In Spain, the Royal Academy of History collected detailed information about the event for a year, covering three thousand settlements (an amazing fact for our time). And it was this information that allowed modern researchers to compile a representative macroseismic map.

Already contemporaries understood that the earthquake was “born” not on land, but somewhere in the depths of the neighboring ocean. This was also indicated by the destructive waves that came from the Atlantic and, although isolated, expressive stories of ship captains who accidentally found themselves in relative proximity to the Portuguese coast. One of the captains, whose ship on the morning of November 1 was 50 leagues (220-280 km) from Lisbon, said: the ship received such a noticeable blow that the deck was badly damaged. On another ship on the open sea, the shock threw people on deck more than one and a half meters. Ships could experience such serious blows only in the epicentral region. Now we know a number of other indications of the underwater location of the source, approximately 300-350 km from Lisbon.

From a seismological point of view, an important fact is that it was unconscious at one time, but is now known and understood. The Lisbon seismic event generated not only a long series of aftershocks, but also so-called provoked independent (albeit disproportionately weaker) earthquakes at a distance of hundreds and thousands of kilometers. For example, in Switzerland, Italy, France, and, it seems, in Germany and Sweden, even in England and Scotland. We now understand that the earth's crust in a vast and geologically diverse region has been out of dormancy for a long time. Then all subsequent local tremors were directly associated with the main event, without much regard for the time of their occurrence.

But there were harbingers

“It all started without any preliminary signs”- this is what was written in a number of reputable publications until recently. But that's not true.

“Since 1750 there has been less rain than usual, but in the spring of 1755 more rain fell. The summer of 1755 was unusually cold. The day before at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, fog entered the valleys from the sea. Sunlight, usually abundant at this time of year, then appeared very rarely. Then the east wind rose, and the fog was carried back to the sea, where it lay very densely. The sea rose with a deafening noise. Around Colares, 20 English miles north of Lisbon, many wells have dried up these days. Others, on the contrary, poured out/threw out water with force. Around midnight[those. in about 10 hours - A.N. ] mild tremors were already felt in Lisbon” .

It is now known that weather anomalies, including long-term ones, precede strong earthquakes. Hydrogeological precursors are also well studied.

After a series of tremors in 1750, 1751, 1752. earthquakes in Portugal have stopped. This was not noticed then, but now we can talk about a characteristic seismic lull.

Before the first shock, a rolling roar was heard, reaching the force of a cannonade. New research, including with the help of questionnaires sent at the request of the Marquis de Pombal, found that precursor phenomena in Portugal and Spain were observed over a large area - within a radius of up to 600 km. Several months before the event, the water in one of the wells acquired an unpleasant odor; in eight days the reptiles crawled out of their holes; over several days and the day before, there was a change in the level and turbidity of the water in the wells, gas emissions and unusual behavior of animals were noted.

For events of extreme magnitude, very distant precursors can be quite informative. Most 19th and 20th century publications about the Lisbon disaster mention the unusual revival of the famous healing spring in the spa town of Teplice (Czech Republic). It was noted many times that the spring suddenly released a huge amount of water, so that the baths were overflowing. This happened between 11 and 12 noon on November 1, i.e. taking into account the time difference right when the earthquake happened. By the way, it itself was not felt in Teplitz, although much further to the north (on the northern coast of Germany) it was noticed at several points. If we turn to the original source (the message of Holy Father Steplin), we will discover something hitherto unnoticed. An hour and a half before the unusual outpouring, the water in the source became agitated and began to flow out with silt, then for a minute it completely stopped flowing, then with monstrous force it began to flow again, having previously thrown out reddish particles of oxide iron. Subsequently, the water flowed normally and became clean, but hotter and rich in medicinal components. Such fluctuations in the flow rate and composition of water from sources have now been well studied as precursors of earthquakes. It is believed that they reflect sharp changes in stress in the earth's crust, including over long distances.

The Lisbon phenomenon today

What makes the long-ago Lisbon earthquake stand out so that it remains relevant after 250 years? Of course, with enormous power, the size of human losses and damage, the vastness of the area of distribution, the consequences in various spheres of human activity. Having remained the strongest seismic event in Europe for so long, the Lisbon tragedy, being projected for modern life, will help create a scenario (albeit exceptional, but not impossible) of an extreme situation, and time to prepare for such a situation.

For seismologists, it is especially important how exactly the seismic process developed both in the near zone and in the remote zone. After what we have learned about the exceptional impact and propagation of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, we cannot help but recall the Lisbon tsunami 250 years ago as a kind of model of the tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean. A retrospective examination of many earthquakes shows (and the Lisbon one is no exception) that seismic disasters do not arise out of nowhere. They are predetermined by location and are preceded by harbingers of increasing number and strength.

The Lisbon phenomenon gave impetus to conducting special surveys in order to understand not only natural phenomena, but their social consequences. In Portugal this happened in the form of collecting information through questionnaires, in Spain - through the efforts of a specially formed commission. Nowadays both are in order. In the 18th century I. Kant and other natural philosophers tried to comprehend the catastrophe. Subsequently, scientists turned to the Lisbon phenomenon again and again. This was the case in the 19th century. [ , ], and in XX [ , ]. Each time, researchers found new features and were able to explain them better than their predecessors. The 21st century is on its way.

Map of isoseisms of the Lisbon earthquake within the Iberian Peninsula [,].
The asterisk indicates the epicenter of the earthquake.

Several publications have appeared recently. Once again wisdom is confirmed - whoever does not know the past cannot control the future. Over the past 250 years, many seismic events have occurred in the Atlantic, including in relative proximity to the coast of Portugal. In the 20th century they were recorded instrumentally in 1931, 1939, 1941, 1969, 1975. The penultimate one is now considered as a reduced model of the earthquake of 1755. Two important facts became clear. Firstly, the epicenters line up in a chain directed latitudinally from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge towards Gibraltar, and, secondly, the mechanisms of the focal points in the western part of the zone reveal dextral shear displacements, while closer to the Portuguese coast, transverse upthrust prevails in the focal points. Nowadays, the source of the 1755 earthquake is correlated with the intersection of the main latitudinal fault zone with the Messeian feather fault, stretching in a northeastern direction to the Iberian Peninsula. The exact position of the epicenter is impossible to establish, but it is fundamentally important to know that approximately 300-350 km from it on the Portuguese coast, the maximum recorded tremors reached X points. This means that at the epicenter they had to correspond to XI points (if not more).

Bathymetry, major faults, and earthquakes (shown as circles) that occurred near Portugal.
Crosses indicate the epicenters of the strongest earthquakes over the past 60 years.

As for the tsunami, until now people have paid attention to the wave that arrived on the coast of Portugal 20-30 minutes after the first shock. In the most destroyed coastal points, later events at sea were overshadowed by pressing earthly problems. But in less affected areas, in particular in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, in Galicia, subsequent disturbances of the sea were noticed. At noon its level rose like never before and then rose and fell 7 times. And at 6 o'clock in the evening of the same day there was no usual tide. Later, the sea surface dropped below the water level at the mouths of local rivers. Unusual waves were noticed until 10 am the next day, i.e. the whole day. It is important to emphasize that the strongest shocks after the first one in the morning occurred just at noon and at 6 pm. This means that subsequent tsunamis are almost certainly related to them.

At the port of Cadiz, near Gibraltar (i.e. on the southern flank of the heavily shaken area), the swelling of the sea, with complete calm, was attributed to 11 a.m. In all likelihood, it was the same tsunami that followed the midday shock (it's just a matter of time difference). The water shaft attacked the parapet of the defensive wall of the city, collapsed it, carried the hundred-ton fragments of the wall 150 m, after which it flooded the lower part of Cadiz and the neighboring town of Conil. Rise and fall of sea water levels up to two meters were also observed in Gibraltar, where they also continued until the next morning. This reveals the connection between the tsunami and the main shocks of the first day. With strong aftershocks in the subsequent period, they also recurred.

The history of studying an outstanding seismic event distant in time, as well as a number of other seismic disasters of the past, shows that earthquakes more than a century ago can be known and understood at the modern level. This means it can be used in current seismic hazard assessments and partly in a prognostic aspect. It is now quite possible to determine the locations of future disasters and signs of their approach.

In many cities of continental Western Europe at that time, the bells themselves staged the funeral ringing in absentia, before residents knew about its reason. That's true “Ask not for whom the bell tolls”... To us, 250 years later, the echoes of the Lisbon disaster are heard like an alarm bell, warning and mobilizing.

P.S. If you find yourself in Lisbon, look for the monument to the Marquis de Pombal, the city's rebuilder after the disaster and our assistant in the cause of seismic knowledge. Bow, take a photo and bring the photo to Russia. We will publish it along with the surprisingly modern Marquis questionnaire. For memory and for the benefit of domestic seismology.

On the advice of a reader, we present this photograph here and have already sent it to the author

Literature

1. Letters about revolutions of the globe. Essay by A. Bertrand. St. Petersburg; M., 1867.

Which caused especially a lot of trouble due to the coastal location of Lisbon. The earthquake exacerbated political tensions in Portugal and brought a harsh end to the country's colonial ambitions in the 18th century. The event was widely discussed by European philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment and led to the development of the concept of theodicy. This first earthquake studied by science was the impetus for the birth of modern seismology. Today, geologists estimate the magnitude of the Lisbon earthquake to be about 9, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean, about 200 kilometers southwest of the Saint Vincent Peninsula. The reconstruction of the city after the earthquake was led by the Marquis de Pombal.

Earthquake

Ruins of the Carmo convent, destroyed by the Lisbon earthquake.

The earthquake occurred on the morning of November 1, a Catholic holiday - All Saints' Day. According to surviving descriptions, the earthquake lasted from three and a half to six minutes, causing huge cracks in the ground, five meters wide, separating the city center from the rest of the land. The survivors rushed to the seemingly safe docks and saw that the water had receded, and the bottom of the sea was visible with numerous wrecks of ships and cargo. A few minutes after the earthquake, a huge tsunami covered the harbor and city center and rushed upstream of the Tagus River. Two more waves followed. Areas of the city not affected by the tsunami were destroyed by fires that lasted five days.

Lisbon was not the only Portuguese city affected by this disaster. In all southern regions of the country, in particular in the province of Algarve, the destruction was colossal. The tremors were felt throughout Europe, as far as Finland and North Africa. A tsunami up to 20 meters high hit the coast of North Africa and the islands of Martinique and Barbados in the North Atlantic. A three-meter tsunami brought destruction to the south coast of England.

Estimated position of the epicenter of the Lisbon earthquake.

Of the 275 thousand people inhabiting the city, more than 90 thousand died. Another 10 thousand died on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. 85% of the buildings were destroyed, including the famous palaces, libraries, as well as the best examples of characteristic 16th-century Portuguese architecture. Buildings that were not destroyed by the earthquake fell prey to fire. The new Opera building, opened just six months earlier (under the unfortunate name Opera Phoenix), was razed to the ground by an earthquake. The Royal Palace, which was located just across the Tagus River on the site of the modern Terreiro do Paço Square, was completely destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis. The palace library contained the royal library of 70,000 volumes, as well as hundreds of works of art, including paintings by Rubens, Titian and Caravaggio. All this was irretrievably lost. Along with the palace, the royal archives with descriptions of the travels of Vasco da Gama and other navigators also perished. Many churches, cathedrals and the city's largest hospital were destroyed. The tomb of the national hero, Nuno Alvarez Parera, was lost. Visitors to Lisbon can still visit the ruins of the monastery, which were preserved by the Lisbon people for memory.

It is described that many animals sensed danger and sought to climb to higher ground before the water arrived. This is the first documented description of this phenomenon in Europe.

Social and philosophical significance of the disaster

The consequences of the earthquake were not limited to destroyed houses. Lisbon was the religious capital Catholic country, who built many churches and was engaged in missionary work in the colonies. Moreover, the disaster struck the city on an important Catholic holiday and destroyed almost all the churches. This catastrophe raised with new urgency the question of the “cruelty of God” for philosophers and theologians of the 18th century.

The earthquake greatly influenced Enlightenment thinkers. Many philosophers of the time mentioned this event in their works, especially Voltaire in Candide (The Optimist) and Poem for a Disaster in Lisbon. The whim of the elements led Voltaire’s Candide to satire the idea that we live in “the best of possible worlds”; as Theodor Adorno wrote, "The Lisbon earthquake cured Voltaire of Leibniz's theodicism." Nowadays, in terms of its influence on philosophy and culture, the Lisbon earthquake is often compared to the Holocaust.

The concept of divine intervention, although it existed before 1755, was developed in philosophy by Imanuel Kant as part of his attempts to comprehend the enormity of the earthquake and tsunami. Kant published three texts on the Lisbon earthquake. As a young man, fascinated by the earthquake, he collected all the information available to him and used it to create a theory about the causes of the earthquake. Kant believed that earthquakes occur as a result of the collapse of huge underground voids. Although erroneous, this concept nevertheless became one of the first natural science theories that explained natural processes by natural rather than supernatural causes. The young Kant's pamphlet may have marked the beginning of scientific geography and certainly of seismology.

Some researchers (eg Werner Hamacher, see Werner Hamacher) argue that the earthquake affected not only the minds of philosophers, but also their language. It is argued that it was the earthquake that gave additional meaning to the words “foundations, foundation” and “shock, shock.”

Birth of seismology

The Prime Minister's actions were not limited to restoring the destruction. The Marquis of Pombal ordered surveys about the earthquake and its consequences to be sent to all provinces of the country. It included the following questions:

How long did the earthquake last?
How many aftershocks were there?
What type of destruction occurred?
Were the animals behaving strangely (a question that prefigured research by Chinese seismologists in the 1960s)?
What happened to the walls and wells?

The answers to these and other questions are still preserved in the National Archives of Portugal. By studying this precise data, modern scientists were able to reconstruct the event. Without the survey conducted by Pombal, this would not have been possible. Since Pombal was the first to attempt to give an objective scientific description of the various manifestations and consequences of earthquakes, he is considered the great-great-grandfather of modern seismological science.

The geological reasons that caused this earthquake and the seismic activity of the region continue to be debated by modern scientists.

Links

Benjamin, Walter. "The Lisbon Earthquake." In Selected Writings vol. 2. Belknap, 1999. ISBN 0-674-94586-7. The often abstruse critic Benjamin gave a series of radio broadcasts for children in the early 1930s; this one, from 1931, discusses the Lisbon earthquake and summarizes some of its impact on European thought.
Brooks, Charles B.. Disaster at Lisbon: The Great Earthquake of 1755. 1994.
Chase, J. "The Great Earthquake At Lisbon (1755)." Colliers Magazine, 1920.
Dynes, Russell Rowe. "The dialogue between Voltaire and Rousseau on the Lisbon earthquake: The emergence of a social science view." University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center, 1999.
Hamacher, Werner. "The Quaking of Presentation." In Premises: Essays on Philosophy and Literature from Kant to Celan, pp. 261-293. Stanford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8047-3620-0.
Kendrick, T.D. The Lisbon Earthquake. Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott, 1957.
Neiman, Susan. Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Modern Philosophy. Princeton University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-691-11792-6/0691096082. This book centers on philosophical reaction to the earthquake, arguing that the earthquake was responsible for modern conceptions of evil.
Ray, Gene. "Reading the Lisbon Earthquake: Adorno, Lyotard, and the Contemporary Sublime." Yale Journal of Criticism 17.1 (2004): pp. 1-18.
Seco e Pinto, P.S. (Editor). Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering: Proceedings of the Second International Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 21-25 June, 1999. ISBN 90-5809-116-3.
Weinrich, Harald. "Literaturgeschichte eines Weltereignisses: Das Erdbeben von Lisbon." In Literature fur Leser, pp. 64-76. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1971. ISBN 3-17-087225-7. In German. Cited by Hamacher as a broad survey of philosophical and literary reactions to the Lisbon earthquake. There are also German people in Lisbon.
Nikonov A. A. " “Terrible shock” for Europe. Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755", "Nature", No. 11, 2005

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Engraving from 1755 depicting the ruins of Lisbon in the flames of fires and a tsunami covering ships in the harbor. The Great Lisbon Earthquake occurred on November 1, 1755, at 9:20 am. It turned into ruins... Wikipedia

Engraving from 1755 depicting the ruins of Lisbon in the flames of fires and a tsunami covering ships in the harbor. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake occurred on November 1, 1755, at 9:20 am. It plunged Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, into ruins, and was one of... ... Wikipedia

The strongest earthquakes throughout human history have caused colossal material damage and caused a huge number of casualties among the population. The first mention of tremors dates back to 2000 BC.
And despite the achievements modern science and the development of technology, no one can still predict exact time, when the elements strike, so quick and timely evacuation of people often becomes impossible.

Earthquakes are natural disasters that kill the most people, much more than, for example, hurricanes or typhoons.
In this rating we will talk about the 12 most powerful and destructive earthquakes in human history.

12. Lisbon

On November 1, 1755, a powerful earthquake occurred in the capital of Portugal, the city of Lisbon, later called the Great Lisbon Earthquake. A terrible coincidence was that on November 1 - All Saints' Day, thousands of residents gathered for mass in the churches of Lisbon. These churches, like other buildings throughout the city, could not withstand the powerful shocks and collapsed, burying thousands of unfortunates under their rubble.

Then a 6-meter tsunami wave rushed into the city, covering the surviving people rushing in panic through the streets of destroyed Lisbon. The destruction and loss of life were colossal! As a result of the earthquake, which lasted no more than 6 minutes, the tsunami it caused and numerous fires that engulfed the city, at least 80,000 residents of the Portuguese capital died.

Many famous figures and philosophers touched on this deadly earthquake in their works, for example, Immanuel Kant, who tried to find scientific explanation such a massive tragedy.

11. San Francisco

April 18, 1906, at 5:12 am powerful aftershocks shook sleeping San Francisco. The force of the tremors was 7.9 points and as a result of the strongest earthquake in the city, 80% of the buildings were destroyed.

After the first count of the dead, authorities reported 400 victims, but later their number increased to 3,000 people. However, the main damage to the city was caused not by the earthquake itself, but by the monstrous fire it caused. As a result, more than 28,000 buildings throughout San Francisco were destroyed, with property damage amounting to more than $400 million at the exchange rate of that time.
Many residents themselves set fire to their dilapidated houses, which were insured against fire, but not against earthquakes.

10. Messina

The largest earthquake in Europe was the earthquake in Sicily and Southern Italy, when on December 28, 1908, as a result of powerful tremors measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale, according to various experts, from 120 to 200,000 people died.
The epicenter of the disaster was the Strait of Messina, located between the Apennine Peninsula and Sicily; the city of Messina suffered the most, where practically not a single surviving building remained. A huge tsunami wave, caused by tremors and amplified by an underwater landslide, also caused a lot of destruction.

Documented fact: rescuers were able to pull two exhausted, dehydrated, but alive children from the rubble, 18 days after the disaster struck! The numerous and extensive destructions were caused primarily by the poor quality of buildings in Messina and other parts of Sicily.

Russian sailors of the Imperial Navy provided invaluable assistance to the residents of Messina. The ships as part of the training group sailed in the Mediterranean Sea and on the day of the tragedy ended up in the port of Augusta in Sicily. Immediately after the tremors, sailors organized a rescue operation and thanks to their brave actions, thousands of residents were saved.

9. Haiyuan

One of the deadliest earthquakes in human history was the devastating earthquake that struck Haiyuan County, part of Gansu Province, on December 16, 1920.
Historians estimate that at least 230,000 people died that day. The force of the tremors was such that entire villages disappeared in the faults of the earth’s crust, such big cities like Xi'an, Taiyuan and Lanzhou. Incredibly, strong waves formed after the disaster were recorded even in Norway.

Modern researchers believe that the death toll was much higher and totaled at least 270,000 people. At that time, this was 59% of the population of Haiyuan County. Several tens of thousands of people died from the cold after their homes were destroyed by the elements.

8. Chile

The earthquake in Chile on May 22, 1960, considered the strongest earthquake in the history of seismology, measured 9.5 on the Richter scale. The earthquake was so powerful that it caused tsunami waves more than 10 meters high, which covered not only the coast of Chile, but also caused enormous damage to the city of Hilo in Hawaii, and some of the waves reached the coasts of Japan and the Philippines.

More than 6,000 people died, most of whom were hit by the tsunami, and the destruction was unimaginable. 2 million people were left homeless and the damage amounted to more than $500 million. In some areas of Chile, the impact of the tsunami wave was so strong that many houses were carried away 3 km inland.

7. Alaska

On March 27, 1964, the most powerful earthquake in American history occurred in Alaska. The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.2 on the Richter scale and this earthquake was the strongest since the disaster struck Chile in 1960.
129 people died, of which 6 were victims of tremors, the rest were washed away by a huge tsunami wave. The disaster caused the greatest destruction in Anchorage, and tremors were recorded in 47 US states.

6. Kobe

The Kobe earthquake in Japan on January 16, 1995 was one of the most destructive in history. Tremors with a magnitude of 7.3 began at 05:46 am local time and continued for several days. As a result, more than 6,000 people died and 26,000 were injured.

The damage caused to the city's infrastructure was simply enormous. More than 200,000 buildings were destroyed, 120 of the 150 berths in the port of Kobe were destroyed, and there was no power supply for several days. The total damage from the disaster was about $200 billion, which at that time was 2.5% of Japan's total GDP.

Not only government services rushed to help the affected residents, but also the Japanese mafia - the Yakuza, whose members delivered water and food to those affected by the disaster.

5. Sumatra

On December 26, 2004, a powerful tsunami that hit the shores of Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other countries was caused by a devastating earthquake measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale. The epicenter of the tremors was in the Indian Ocean, near the island of Simeulue, off the northwestern coast of Sumatra. The earthquake was unusually large; the earth's crust shifted at a distance of 1200 km.

The height of the tsunami waves reached 15-30 meters and, according to various estimates, from 230 to 300,000 people became victims of the disaster, although the exact number of deaths is impossible to calculate. Many people were simply washed into the ocean.
One of the reasons for such a number of casualties was the lack of an early warning system in the Indian Ocean with which to report to the local population about the approach of a tsunami.

4. Kashmir

On October 8, 2005, the worst earthquake to hit South Asia in a century occurred in the Pakistani-controlled region of Kashmir. The strength of the tremors was 7.6 on the Richter scale, which is comparable to the San Francisco earthquake in 1906.
As a result of the disaster, according to official data, 84,000 people died, according to unofficial data, more than 200,000. Rescue efforts have been hampered by military conflict between Pakistan and India in the region. Many villages were completely wiped off the face of the earth, and the city of Balakot in Pakistan was completely destroyed. In India, 1,300 people became victims of the earthquake.

3. Haiti

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale occurred in Haiti. The main blow fell on the capital of the state - the city of Port-au-Prince. The consequences were terrible: almost 3 million people were left homeless, all hospitals and thousands of residential buildings were destroyed. The number of victims was simply enormous, according to various estimates from 160 to 230,000 people.

Criminals who had escaped from a prison destroyed by the elements poured into the city; cases of looting, robberies and robberies became frequent on the streets. Material damage from the earthquake is estimated at 5.6 billion dollars.

Despite the fact that many countries - Russia, France, Spain, Ukraine, the USA, Canada and dozens of others - provided all possible assistance in eliminating the consequences of the disaster in Haiti, more than five years after the earthquake, more than 80,000 people still live in improvised camps for refugees.
Haiti is poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and this natural disaster dealt an irreparable blow to the economy and the standard of living of citizens.

2. Earthquake in Japan

On March 11, 2011, the strongest earthquake in Japanese history occurred in the Tohoku region. The epicenter was located east of the island of Honshu and the strength of the tremors was 9.1 on the Richter scale.
As a result of the disaster, the nuclear power plant in the city of Fukushima was severely damaged and power units at reactors 1, 2, and 3 were destroyed. Many areas became uninhabitable as a result of radioactive radiation.

After underwater tremors, a huge tsunami wave covered the coast and destroyed thousands of administrative and residential buildings. More than 16,000 people died, 2,500 are still considered missing.

The material damage was also colossal - more than $100 billion. And given that the complete restoration of the destroyed infrastructure may take years, the amount of damage may increase several times.

1. Spitak and Leninakan

There are many tragic dates in the history of the USSR, and one of the most famous is the earthquake that shook the Armenian SSR on December 7, 1988. Powerful tremors in just half a minute almost completely destroyed the northern part of the republic, capturing the territory where more than 1 million inhabitants lived.

The consequences of the disaster were monstrous: the city of Spitak was almost completely wiped off the face of the Earth, Leninakan was severely damaged, more than 300 villages were destroyed and 40% of the republic’s industrial capacity was destroyed. More than 500 thousand Armenians were left homeless, according to various estimates, from 25,000 to 170,000 residents died, 17,000 citizens remained disabled.
111 states and all republics of the USSR provided assistance in the restoration of destroyed Armenia.

PORTUGAL

50,000 people died in the Great Lisbon Earthquake, which actually consisted of 500 aftershocks. This happened on November 1, 1755. The entire city, along with its priceless art treasures and monuments of the Enlightenment, was destroyed.

The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 - the most powerful earthquake of modern times - was catastrophic in many ways. It destroyed an entire city. Everything that survived the tremors was consumed by the fires. In the place where the glorious city once rose, there remains a fetid wasteland smoldering with coals. But even more terrible were the human losses. According to official data, this figure was 50,000. But other, no less reliable, sources provide information about 100,000 human lives lost.

The scale of the earthquake was also stunning. Its destructive force was felt over an area of 2 million square kilometers, especially in North Africa, in Fez and Meknes (Morocco), where 10,000 people died from the shock wave of the earthquake.

Finally, the most difficult losses were the irreparable loss of the richest libraries and unique works of art stored in private and public museums in Lisbon. The past, according to some of the most influential thinkers of the Great Enlightenment, has been destroyed. All that was left was the present, but even that was uncertain. The Inquisition was still shaking Lisbon and causing no less fear than a natural disaster. The opponent of the Inquisition - indomitable optimism - died on this day in Lisbon. Reality burst into life with the first waves of the earthquake that hit the city on the morning of Saturday of All Saints' Day - November 1, 1755. The world will never be the same after this.

The first tremors swept through the city at 9.30am, as thousands of people stood in Lisbon's packed cathedrals. The steps swayed, the candelabra danced wildly. Sacred objects, including candles, the fire of which would soon blaze throughout the city in uncontrollable fires, fell from altars and stands. In the city's port, a sea captain watched as the stone buildings of Lisbon, built on the slopes of the hills reflected in the waters of the Tagus River, slowly, with an almost majestic attitude, began to sway from side to side. “Like a wheat field from a light wind,” he later recalled.

It will be another 40 minutes before the second of the next 500 tremors hits the city. The one that destroyed 50,000 lives and destroyed 18 thousand buildings in 2 minutes. A 4.5 meter wide chasm will open in the center of the city.

A Spanish nobleman will one day ask a Lisbon dignitary: “Will your land never rest?”

After the first tremors, hundreds of people died, buried under the bricks and marble of collapsed churches, including the churches of Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo. The square in front of the Basilica de Santa Sarin - the oldest cathedral in Lisbon - was filled with screams and lamentations of people. When a second, stronger shock was heard, the basilica collapsed with a terrible roar along with neighboring buildings directly onto the square, burying fleeing people under its rubble.

Hundreds of other distraught people sought refuge on the marble embankment recently built on the banks of the Tagus River. After the first impact, the water in Tezka subsided, and the bottom was exposed all the way to the alluvial sand barrier at the mouth of the river. None of the survivors paid attention to the sign, which all seismologists would recognize as a sure sign of the approach of a seismic wave (tsunami). And she didn’t have to wait long. A wave 15–20 meters high came and washed away everyone from the embankment. She was followed by two more, which carried away people and boats in the bay into a terrible whirlpool.

And then the fires started. Fanned by frantic northeast winds, the flames, ignited by fallen altar candles and first engulfing carpets, tapestries, and wooden beams, then spread to other buildings and turned the city into a living hell. Fires burned in the city for three days and three nights. They stopped when the devastation was absolute. Structures that withstood the earthquake were consumed by fire.

Above the human losses was the loss of the historical past. Two Lisbon monasteries burned to the ground. The new opera house lay in ruins, the royal palace of Marcus de Levrical, which housed 200 paintings by Rubens, Correggio and Titian, with its priceless library, which included 18 thousand volumes of books, was destroyed. And among them is history written by Charles V in his own hand, as well as maps of the world that were compiled by Portuguese sailors over the centuries, and especially valuable incunabula, first printed books that reflected the views of the world of the first persons of that time, published before 1500. Enlightenment manuscripts stored within the walls of the Dominican monastery burned down.

The Lisbon earthquake was so complex that its waves were felt throughout Europe and North Africa. In addition to the human casualties in Morocco, there were casualties in Luxembourg, where 500 soldiers died in collapsed barracks. Far to the north, in Scandinavia, rivers overflowed their banks. In the English county of Derbysher, at a distance of almost 1,500 km from the epicenter, plaster fell off the walls, and a cleft formed in the ground.

In Lisbon, reprisals soon began against real and fictitious culprits of the troubles that had come. The young king Don José built gallows on which hundreds of captured prisoners who had escaped from the prison when it collapsed were publicly hanged. Some of them confessed to committing robberies and arson before their deaths.

An army of black-capped priests of the Inquisition flooded the city in search of heretics. They captured several Protestant clergymen and forced them to be baptized as punishment for their sinful provocation of this natural disaster.

Fortunately for the 200,000 survivors, the common sense and intelligence of Secretary of State Marquis de Pombal prevailed. When the king asked him to report on the plan to rebuild the city, the marquis uttered words that would resonate for centuries: “Sir, we must bury the dead and feed the living.”

This is exactly what was done in the first place. Many tons of food were delivered from the provinces, and over the next 15 years the city was slowly rebuilt. This time its streets were designed to be up to 12 meters wide with large sidewalks.

But the influence of the Age of Enlightenment continued. Voltaire immortalized the earthquake by describing the arrival of Candide and Doctor Pangloss in Lisbon in the midst of the disaster. Jean-Jacques Rousseau saw it as proof of his theory of "natural man". If more people lived in nature, he wrote, then many more people would survive.

But for other Enlightenment thinkers, the natural disaster was a cold shower, a shocking, sobering plunge into pragmatism.

by Bergmann Jurgen

Lisbon **Alfama: This ancient Moorish quarter escaped significant damage during the 1755 earthquake. Its winding streets give Lisbon a special picturesque quality.**Tram No. 28 (El?ctrico 28): ride on the old trams of the historic route No. 28, passing

From the book Lisbon. Guide by Bergmann Jurgen

**Lisbon Lisbon is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. But while you're exploring, take a moment for a bica (a cup of black coffee), a shot of ginjinha com elas (cherry liqueur) in an Old Town bar, a glass of port at Solar do Porto - and of course, a ride on El?ctrico

From the book Lisbon. Guide by Bergmann Jurgen

Modern Lisbon After the “Carnation Revolution” of 1974, Lisbon’s return to the European space began. To give the city a modern look, it was necessary not only to overcome its uncontrolled growth, but also to restore dilapidated buildings

From the book Lisbon. Guide by Bergmann Jurgen

Lisbon ALPHAMA: Bica do Sapato, av. infante dom henrique, Armaz?m B, Cais da Pedra a Bica do Sapato, very close to Santa Ap?lonia train station, tel. 218 810 320. Cafe from 12 to 1 am, restaurant 12.30–14.30 and 20–23.30, daily, except Sun and first half of the day on Mon. Very expansive dining rooms with a touch of 1960s nostalgia,

author Rosenberg Alexander N.

From the book Lisbon: The Nine Circles of Hell, The Flying Portuguese and... Port Wine author Rosenberg Alexander N.

From the book All the Monarchs of the World. Western Europe author Ryzhov Konstantin Vladislavovich

Portugal (Burgundian Dynasty)1139-1185 Alphonse I1185-1211 Sancho I1211-1223 Alphonse II1223-1248 Sancho II1248-1279 Alphonse III1279-1325 Dinis1325-1357 Alphonse IV1357-1367 Pedro I1367-1383 Ferdinand I1383-1385 Beatrice1385-1433 John I1433-1438 Duarte1438-1481 Alphonse V1481-1495 John II1495-1521 Manuel I1521-1557 John III1557-1578 Sebastian1578-1580

From book encyclopedic Dictionary(L) author Brockhaus F.A.

author Malov Vladimir Igorevich

Portugal Porto (Club founded in 1893) 2-time winner of the European Cup and Champions League, 2-time winner of the UEFA Cup and Europa League, 2-time winner of the Intercontinental Cup, winner of the 1987 UEFA Super Cup, 25-time champion Portugal,

From the book 100 Great Football Clubs author Malov Vladimir Igorevich

Benfica (Lisbon) (Club founded in 1904) 2-time European Cup winner, 32-time Portuguese champion, 27-time Portuguese Cup winner, 4-time Portuguese Super Cup winner, 3-time Portuguese League Cup winner.U entrance to

From the book 100 Great Football Clubs author Malov Vladimir Igorevich

Sporting (Lisbon) (Club founded in 1906) Winner of the 1964 Cup Winners' Cup, 18-time champion of Portugal, 15-time winner of the Portuguese Cup, 7-time winner of the Portuguese Super Cup. The most famous footballer of the Lisbon "Sporting" is, Certainly,

From the book Big Soviet Encyclopedia(software) of the author TSB

From the book Abroad author Chuprinin Sergey Ivanovich

PORTUGAL The climate in Portugal is excellent, there is virtually no unemployment, it is much easier to obtain a permanent residence permit here than in other countries of the European Union, but come on: this country is nevertheless not in great demand among immigrants from the CIS

From the book Basic Special Forces Training [Extreme Survival] author Ardashev Alexey Nikolaevich

In 1755, the capital of Portugal, the city of Lisbon, had about 230 thousand inhabitants. Situated on the right bank of the Tagus River (the ancient name of Tagus), fifteen kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by orange groves, Lisbon was considered one of the most beautiful and prosperous trading cities in Europe.

Lisbon grew richer, its citizens, who were also zealous Catholics, lived in contentment. The royal palace and opera house were considered the most beautiful buildings in the city, but many temples were also built in Lisbon. Residents proudly admired the work of their hands and religiously performed all religious rituals. There was not a single more or less significant Christian holiday that was not celebrated in Lisbon. They were prepared for them in advance and celebrated magnificently and solemnly.

It was the same this time. On Saturday, November 1, 1755, Lisbon residents were going to celebrate one of the traditional Catholic holidays - All Saints' Day. The streets of the city were festively decorated, people put on their most beautiful outfits. Already in the morning, the solemn ringing of bells floated over the city, inviting people to the service. All the temples and churches of the Portuguese capital opened their doors wide. Residents of Lisbon congratulated each other, smiled, and said pleasant words. After the service, the believers intended to march through the streets of the Portuguese capital.

Everything was ready for the solemn moment, and there were no signs of an impending disaster. However, the procession did not take place. At 9:20 a.m., while services were still going on, the city was suddenly shaken by an earthquake. It seemed that at one moment the earth became alive, moved under our feet, and jerked towards the building. As one of the eyewitnesses later said, the high spiers of the churches “swayed like ears of corn in the wind.” But not even a few seconds had passed after the first shock, when the earth shook from the second blow. It was much stronger and more noticeable: bell towers fell onto the roofs of churches, the walls of houses shook and collapsed to the ground, covering hundreds and thousands of people who ran out into the streets.

Tremors with epicenters in the Azores-Gibraltar range destroyed Lisbon more than once. This time the earthquake began unexpectedly, early in the morning, in beautiful sunny weather. A huge lead-gray cloud covered the city, as if with a funeral shroud, and it seemed to fall silent in a silent cry. The second blow was followed by a third, which completed the work of destruction that had begun. The city fell apart like a house of cards.

About an hour after the main shock, the sea retreated, revealing the tidal strip. The ships moored at the berths fell on their sides on the muddy bottom. It was a terrible sight - an empty port with merchant ships lying helplessly.

Hundreds of residents who were in churches at the time of the tremors died under their rubble. The surviving people tried to leave the collapsing city by crossing the Tagus River. Those who managed to escape from that all-crushing hell rushed to the shore and port berths in the hope of going out to sea on boats and finding salvation there. At eleven o'clock in the morning, more than a hundred people gathered on the river bank: Those who were in the boats at that time later told how a giant wave hid the embankment and the people. When the water receded, not a trace remained of the massive stone embankment. According to eyewitnesses, the embankment was swallowed up by a crack in the ground. Experts believe that the Lisbon embankment is completely submerged in a washed-out sand pound. After some time, the water masses rushed back and crashed onto the shore. Tsunami waves as high as a house (their height reached seventeen meters) flooded the entire lower city. Heavily loaded three-masted ships, like toy boats, were picked up by the waves and thrown several kilometers into the city.

Soon the waves reached the central streets of Lisbon and turned into rapid streams that instantly swallowed up everything that came their way. The capital of Portugal, which was one of the richest and most beautiful cities in the world, a center of trade, religion and art, turned into a heap of ruins in a matter of minutes.

Through the roar coming from underground, through the roar of collapsing buildings, the screams and groans of the wounded and dying were barely audible. Candles burning in surviving churches fell on the floor, hearths and stoves in residential buildings were destroyed, furniture, fabrics, and carpets caught fire from sparks. The fire engulfed numerous buildings in the city, and fires broke out in different neighborhoods. Everything that had survived the earthquake and flood was now perishing in flames.

The great German poet J.-W. Goethe left the following notes about the Lisbon earthquake: “On November 1, 1755, the Lisbon earthquake occurred, instilling boundless horror in a world already accustomed to peace and quiet. The earth shakes and trembles, the sea boils, ships collide and fall houses, towers and churches are collapsing on them, part of the royal palace is swallowed up by the sea... It seems that the cracked earth is spewing out flames, for fire and smoke are bursting from the ruins. Sixty thousand people, a minute before calm and serene, perish in the blink of an eye " . Of the twenty thousand houses that were then in Lisbon, only three thousand more or less survived. Oddly enough, in the center of the city part of the royal palace and the opera building survived, but they were blackened by fire and soot... All churches and temples, service and residential premises that were not destroyed by the tremors, were engulfed in flames. Many residents who hoped to wait out the earthquake in their homes were burned alive. Approximately seventy thousand people died under collapsed buildings, in water and fire.

Many saw God’s punishment in this disaster; one believer later recalled it this way: “A large wonderful city, the richest in Europe, has now turned into a pile of stones. Lord, have mercy on the unfortunate country, deliver us from the disaster that we deserve through our sins and with which you are punishing us! Large wonderful churches, the most magnificent of which are not even in Rome itself, were destroyed. All the monasteries perished, and out of 20 thousand clergy only half remained in life." According to some seismologists, it was the strongest historical earthquake up to that time. It was not only Lisbon that suffered from those three powerful underground shock waves. In total, a third of Europe felt tremors. One and a half thousand kilometers from Lisbon, the spiers of churches swayed in the cities, the floor moved underfoot, the water level (for example, in a Swiss lake) unexpectedly rose by one meter, then fell again. The tremors caused seiches (standing waves) on some lakes in Norway and Sweden. The force of the waves in some ports of Holland reached such strength that they easily tore moored ships from the piers. In Luxembourg, a military barracks collapsed, killing five hundred soldiers under the rubble. Even in distant Africa there were casualties: according to later estimates, about ten thousand people remained under the ruins.

After the disaster, black smoke from the fires continued to swirl over Lisbon for a long time. Torn trees, remains of furniture, household belongings and corpses of people and animals were floating everywhere. The disaster was terrible, and the city had to be rebuilt...