Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
It was also an opportunity to re-publish writings which were out of print or not
published due to censorship. A vast bibliography was compiled by Oliveira (2005).
Another area of great interest but not dealt with in this paper is what concerns the
reconstruction of the City of Lisbon. This involved a great number of discussions
and developments in the most varied topics from urban planning passing by seismic
resistant construction to rationalisation of construction practices.
2 Contemporaneous Information
Most of the existing information obtained at the time of the earthquake was com-
piled in a questionnaire with 13 questions, enquiring different aspects of the event
such as how it was felt, how long the vibration last, the direction of propagation
and the type of damage inflicted. Marquis of Pombal decided to promote this in-
quiry across the parishes of the country, using the religious authorities (Pereira de
Sousa 1919-1932; Table 1).
We must sign the remarkable way how these 13 questions were elaborated (the
number of victims and the ruins produced in each parish of the country), in many
instances similar to the macroseismic information developed 150 years later and still
used nowadays.
It is also remarkable that in Spain during the reign of Fernando VI a very similar
inquiry with the same purpose was produced by the “Real Academia de la Hist oria”.
This inquiry was found just a few years ago and is opened to the scientific commu-
Ta b l e 1
Questionnaire sent, by order of the Marquis of Pombal, after the earthquake of 1755, to
the different parishes of the country
1
◦
At what time did the earthquake started and how much did it last?
2
◦
Did you notice a bigger impulse in one side than in the other? From north to south, or, in
the contrary, did you notice that ruins felt more to one side than to the other?
3
◦
Number of houses ruined in each parish; where there any special buildings and what is
their state now?
4
◦
What kind of people died? Were there any nobles?
5
◦
Which novelties were seen in the sea, rivers or fountains?
6
◦
Did the tide get low or high first; how much did it grown more than normal, how many
times was the flow or unusual reflux noticed; how much time took the water to get
lower and how much to get higher?
7
◦
Were there any cleavages in the ground, what was seen there, and did any fountain came
out again?
8
◦
What were the measures taken locally by the priest, by the soldiers and by the ministers?
9
◦
Were aftershocks felt? When? Which damages caused?
10
◦
Do you remember any other earthquake and what damages did it cause?
11
◦
What is the number of people in each parish, declaring when possible how many women
and men?
12
◦
Was there any kind of lack of food?
13
◦
Where there any fire, for how long and what kind of damages caused?
extra
Were you victim of any ruin from the earthquake of 1755, what kind and is it already
repaired?
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