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The ruins of the Carmo convent, which was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake The earthquake struck in early morning of November 1, the All Saints Day Catholic holiday. Contemporary reports state that the earthquake lasted between three-and-a-half to six minutes, causing gigantic fissures five meters wide to rip apart the city centre. The survivors rushed to the open space of the docks for safety and watched as the water receded, revealing the sea floor, littered by lost cargo and old shipwrecks. Moments later an enormous tsunami engulfed the harbour, and the city downtown. In the areas unaffected by the tsunami, fire quickly broke out, and flames raged for five days.
Lisbon was not the only Portuguese city affected by the catastrophe. All the south of the country, namely the Algarve, was affected and destruction was generalized. The shockwaves of the earthquake were felt throughout Europe and North Africa. Tsunamis up to twenty meters in height swept the coast from North Africa to FinlandSuomen TasavaltaRepubliken Finland ( In Detail) ( In Detail) National motto: None Official languages Finnish and Swedish Capital Helsinki President Tarja Halonen Prime minister Matti Vanhanen Area Total % water Ranked 64th 337,030 km² 9. 4% Population Tot and across the AtlanticFor other uses, see Atlantic (disambiguation The Atlantic Ocean is Earth's second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of its surface. The ocean's name, derived from Greek mythology, means the " Sea of Atlas". This ocean occupies an elongated, to MartiniqueThe departement of Martinique is an overseas departement departement d'outre-mer, or DOM of France, located in the Caribbean Sea. The capital is Fort-de-France. History Main article: History of Martinique Colonized by France in 1635, the island has subseq and BarbadosBarbados is an island nation situated on the boundary of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. One of the Lesser Antilles, it lies to the east of the main chain of islands. History Main article: History of Barbados Barbados was uninhabited when first.
Of a population of 275,000, about 90,000 were killed. Another 10,000 were killed across the Mediterranean in MoroccoAl Mamlakah al-Maghribiyah In Detail( Full size) Official language Arabic Capital Rabat Largest City Casablanca King Mohammed VI Prime Minister Driss Jettou Area Total Ranked 56th 446,550 km² Population Total (2003) Density31,689,267 70/km² Ranked 36th In. Eighty-five percent of Lisbon's buildings were destroyed, including its famous palaces and libraries. Several buildings which had suffered little damage due to the earthquake were destroyed by the fire. The brand new Opera House, opened only six months before, was burned to the ground. The Royal Palace stood just beside the TagusView over Tejo River from Sao Jorge Castle in Lisbon (June 2002). Tagus ( Latin Tagus Spanish Tajo Portuguese Tejo is the largest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It measures 1,008 kilometers in length, 910km of which are in Spain, the rest in Portugal. river in the modern square of Terreiro do Paço, and was destroyed by the earthquake and the tsunami. Inside, the 70,000-volume library and hundreds of works of art, including paintings by Titian, Rubens, and Correggio, were lost. The precious royal archives concerning the exploration of the Atlantic and old documents also disappeared. The earthquake destroyed also the major churches of Lisbon, namely the Cathedral of Santa Maria, and the Basilicas of São Paulo, Santa Catarina, São Vincente de Fora, and the Misericordia. The ruins of the Carmo convent can still be visited today in the centre of the city. The Royal Hospital of All-Saints was consumed by fire and hundreds of patients burned to death.