Historical disasters

Some of the earthquakes with more impact in the history of Portugal

Azores earthquake – 1980 71 people died, 7.2 on the Richter scale, 70% of the houses on Terceira (one of the islands) were completely demolished.

Setúbal earthquake – 1858 Very destructive, 7.1 magnitude.

Lisbon earthquake – 1531 Very violent, with a tsunami, 30.000 mortal victims.

The Lisbon earthquake, 1755 This is the most intense earthquake that has ever occurred in Portugal. It occurred on Saturday, November 1st. Today the seismologists estimate that this earthquake had a magnitude around 8.5 on the Richter scale. In combination with subsequent fires and a tsunami the earthquake almost totally destroyed Lisbon and affected adjoining areas killing more than ⅓ of the population of the city. Even though it caused the most damage in Lisbon it was also particularly destructive in Morocco where approximately 10,000 people lost their lives.

The reconstruction of the city

The Pombal marquis was the one responsible for organizing the reconstruction of the city. He occupied the charge that now is equivalent to Prime-Minister. The king at the time was José I but it was under the command of Marquess of Pombal (Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo) that the city, mainly the downtown, was rebuilt and redesigned by architects. Some buildings were built with anti-seismic technology, which was really innovative at that time.