The 1755 Lisbon earthquake

Affecting an area of ca. 800 000 km(2) and killing up to 100 000 people, th e Lisbon earthquake of 1755 is probably the greatest seismic disaster to ha ve struck western Europe. The shock waves of the earthquake placed a tempor ary brake on the emerging rationalism of the European Enlightenment and att empts to explain the disaster in terms of human sinfulness coloured many co ntemporary accounts. Notwithstanding these difficulties, through careful ar chival research it has proved possible to obtain relatively value-free acco unts of most aspects of the earthquake and to use these not only to model t he physical characteristics of and damage caused by the earthquake, but als o to consider the implications for present day hazard assessment and urban planning. This paper reviews the progress that has been made in: identifyin g source and faulting mechanisms; the processes involved in the generation and impact of tsunamis; damage caused to different types of building and th e use being made of historical earthquakes of different sizes - of which th e 1755 event is the largest - in defining future hazard scenarios for Lisbo n and other areas of Iberia.