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Unusual Historic Crises and Calamities

Khalid Elhassan April 16, 2020 34 min

18. Prayers for God’s Mercy Were… Not Answered

Shortly after the earthquake struck Lisbon, a series of huge tsunami waves crashed over the harbor quays, engulfed the lower part of Lisbon on the shore of the Tagus, and submerged much of the lower city including its newly built, marble quay of Cais De Pedra which disappeared into the river. The first three tsunami waves were the largest and completed the destruction brought about by the two earlier strong quake shocks. About 20,000 of the terrified survivors who had rushed to the open space of the docks and the waterfront for safety, died in the tsunamis. All boats in Lisbon’s harbor were destroyed. Science Photo Library

The shaken and terrified survivors of the Lisbon Earthquake sought to escape the conflagration and collapsing buildings by rushing toward the harbor district. There, the large open squares of the royal palace promised safety from both flames and falling debris. Once they got there, the good people of Lisbon were further alarmed when they encountered the incongruous sight: a harbor without water, with ships resting on a dried seabed.

Gathering in the drying silt of the harbor’s bottom, they were led by priests in fervent prayers. They begged God’s mercy and forgiveness of whatever sins had occasioned such divine wrath. Many were still praying and beseeching God’s mercy in the harbor when the sea returned with a vengeance in the form of a tsunami, with a wall of water 40 feet high, and drowned them.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.