All Saints Day 1st November 1755 was that date of the largest Earthquake in Portugal’s history measuring an estimated 8.5 to 9.0 on the Richter scale.
The following letter from a British nun at the time was discover some 2 years ago and describes the earthquake.
The article with it appeared in the Daily Mail in 2019 is an extremely interesting account of the event.
Download here with copies of the letter.
The National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) promotes on Wednesday 14th of November 2023, at 11:14 am, the 10th edition of the national public awareness exercise for the seismic risk, called (A TERRA TREME) THE EARTH SHAKES. The date indicated for its completion coincides with the World Tsunami Risk Awareness Day, an event instituted by the UN.
This initiative is part of the activities that are part of the National Strategy for Civil Protection Preventive and aims to empower the population to know how to act before, during and after an earthquake, making citizens aware of the fact that they live in a risk society, and challenging them to get involved in the process of building communities that are safer and more resilient to disasters.
The exercise itself comprises the practice of 3 simple gestures that can make a difference to who practices them in the event of an earthquake. The action takes place for one (1) minute, in which the participants, individually or collectively, are invited to perform the 3 gestures of self-protection: DROP COVER HOLD.
In addition to the school-age population, whose adherence to the initiative has been significant over successive editions, ANEPC aims to successively broaden, year after year, the reflection and debate in around the topic of seismic risk and the participation in this exercise to other sectors of civil society.
To this end, we consider it important to involve organizations – public and private – in this collective purpose, seeking to join efforts and extract synergies from the whole of society, so that they are levels of resilience, both individual and collective, are achieved.
In this regard, the ANEPC would like to invite all Institutions to participate in this public initiative.
Participation in the Exercise can take multiple forms, namely:
A TERRA TREME has a dedicated website (www.aterratreme.pt), which provides information about the Exercise.
Safe Communities Portugal announcement of the Exercise in English can be downloaded from Youtube here
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, occurred on Saturday, 1 November, the holy day of All Saints’ Day, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with subsequent fires and a tsunami, the earthquake almost totally destroyed Lisbon and adjoining areas.
Seismologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake had a magnitude in the range 8.5–9.0 on the moment magnitude scale, with its epicentre in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 km (120 mi) west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent. Estimates place the death toll in Lisbon alone between 10,000 and 100,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.
Above picture 1755 Lisbon earthquake
According to historical records, most of the earthquakes affecting Portugal (mainland) have epicentre SW of the Iberian Peninsula (Gorringe bank) or in the Lower Tagus Valley. The most vulnerable areas are the Lisbon urban area and Algarve south. Major earthquakes: occoured in 1531, 1755, 1909 and 1969.
Emergency telephone numbers are available in a handy location
The accepted action to help protect yourself taught in countries at high risk of earthquakes, is to “drop, cover and hold” i.e. drop to the floor, take cover under a sturdy desk or table, and hold on to it firmly. More details can be downloaded here.
All prevention and protection information is from official sources.
“A Terra Treme” Earthquake exercise 2017 – Safe Communities Portugal together with Euroinesco participated in this exercise held on 13th October 2017, using “DROP, COVER, HOLD ON” . This can be viewed on YouTube here
Under the emergency plans for earthquakes over 200 entities are involved covering First aid and medical assistance; Forensics / Mortuary; Law and order; Buildings and Structures; Logistics; Communications and Vital networks
Tsunamis are rare events, but can be extremely deadly. In the past 100 years, 58 of them have claimed more than 260,000 lives, or an average of 4,600 per disaster, surpassing any other natural hazard. The highest number of deaths in that period was in the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. It caused an estimated 227,000 fatalities in 14 countries, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand hardest-hit.
Over 700 million people live in low-lying coastal areas and Small Island Developing States exposed to extreme sea-level events including tsunamis (IPCC).
Investing in resilient infrastructure, early warning systems, and education is critical to saving people and protecting their assets against tsunami risk in the future.
Tsunami is a series of giant waves. In Japanese, tsunami means ‘Harbour Wave’. A wave is created when energy passes through water. Moving air or wind provides energy to water, forming regular waves.
While on the ocean floor, when a tectonic plate suddenly slides beneath the other, the resulting earthquake releases tremendous amount of energy. This energy spreads outward from the point of earthquake, triggering waves that can form tsunami. Initially, these waves are small in size but they travel at great speeds. However, when the waves approach the shore, the rising seabed obstructs the energy of waves. This slows down the speed of waves. But the energy flux must remain constant leading to an increase in height of the waves, thus resulting in tsunami.
Certain areas of Portugal’s coastline are at risk of a Tsunami. A very useful video about Tsunamis and what action you should take in the event of a Tsunami can be downloaded here.
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