This week in history: 26 October - 1 November

1 November 1755

The earth provides us with relatively stable surroundings, but catastrophic natural disasters occur, humbling our sometimes arrogant opinion of our ability to control the environment. In recent times, some might consider Hurricane Katrina or the Christmas Tsunami as such humbling events.

On this date in 1755 occurred another catastrophic natural disaster: the earthquake that destroyed the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. The Lisbon earthquake was actually centered in the Atlantic Ocean roughly 300 miles to the southwest of the city, and force of the quake was strongest in southern Portugal and northern Morocco. Yet Lisbon, a wealthy and densely populated city of more than a quarter million inhabitants, was the scene of the greatest destruction.

Most of Lisbon was destroyed, either from the earthquake (which struck around 9:30 in the morning as the churches were filled with worshippers for All Saints' Day), the fires which then broke out across the city, and the tsunami which devastated the harbor and shore. Tens of thousands are estimated to have died.

Because the city was a capital filled with embassies and foreign visitors, first-hand accounts of the earthquake were widely reported throughout the world. Philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Kant debated the cause and purpose of the quake, and the role of human beings in the natural environment.

The questions raised by the Lisbon quake of 1755 are the same ones that were brought up after Katrina and the Christmas Tsunami: why do such catastrophes happen, and what can we do to prepare for and diminish their effects?