Great Earthquakes in History: Why People Don’t Learn – Society

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe never saw Lisbon. But his description of the earthquake that devastated the Portuguese metropolis during his childhood in 1755 reflects the real horror that gripped the great writer as he dealt with the catastrophe: “The earth trembles and sways, the sea roars, the ships collapse, the houses collapse, churches and towers tumble over them, the royal palace is partly swallowed up by the sea, the shattered earth seems to belch flames: for everywhere smoke and fire report in the ruins Sixty thousand people, a moment before calm and comfortable, perish together.”