Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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Fig. 4
Reports and news written about the 1640 earthquake[s]
also described in two Roman
Avvisi
(ASV, 1640a), released later than the Genoese one
(April 14 and April 21) but carrying older news than it did. Their data, which had passed
through the Tuscan seaport of Leghorn, appear to have arrived via a different channel
to the one that supplied the Genoese news, as it mentioned only the February 26 event.
Thus more than a month had elapsed from the start of the earthquake (February 26)
to its first recording in an Italian
Avviso
(April 6). The seacrossing from Algiers to
Italy would normally have taken less time than this, but in early spring bad weather
could have delayed sea travel; moreover, there was at that time no regular mail service
between Algiers and Italy, and the news would have had to wait for a chance carrier
before setting out from Africa. It is quite likely that the length of this seismic sequence
and its severe effects were what made its occurrence newsworthy enough to reach the
Italian journalistic centres, as lesser earthquakes would probably not have managed
this. Further Genoese and Roman
Avvisi
went back to describing this Algerian seismic
sequence on April 21 and May 6 (ASV, 1640b; BAV, 1640b). Piecing together all of
these available bits of information, it is possible to outline the picture of an earth-
quake that started on February 26 and was felt “over most of the Algerian coast”. This
wreaked havoc over some hamlets in the areas surrounding Algiers (BAV, 1640a),
and possibly in Algiers itself, if the April 21 Roman
Avviso
and the May 6 Genoese
Avviso
are to be taken seriously. According to these latter, “in Algiers, part of the
houses had collapsed and unnumbered people had died” (ASV1640b; BAV, 1640b).
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