We all recognize the Marquês de Pombal as the ruler who notably commanded the relief operations and reconstruction of Lisbon, after the Great Earthquake of 1755.
The action he led is immortalized in the largest of Portuguese statues, in the Rotunda. The imposing monument, crowned by the bronze image flanked by a lion, symbolizes strength and serenity.
The project for its construction was an old idea that had been born in 1882, but which would only be completed in 1934. The delays in the work resulted from multiple setbacks, mainly due to insufficient funds from national subscription. Interestingly, Salazar did not attend the official inauguration ceremony.
The 271 years that separate us from the tragedy do not blur the success of the successive measures taken then, innovative at the time, implemented shortly after the earthquake, followed by the fires and the tsunami that devastated Lisbon.
“Caring for the living and burying the dead”, the famous expression attributed to Secretary of State Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo (the future Marquis of Pombal), reflects his concern with reducing suffering, but also with preventing the worsening of the social and health situation of Lisbon residents. In this sense, on November 1st, supplies were distributed to the city’s population. There was no famine, nor did epidemics break out.
Military personnel from the Peniche, Elvas and Olivença Infantry Regiments, as well as the Évora Dragoons, were mobilized to support public safety and participate in removing rubble and clearing traffic routes.
The reconstruction process was also exemplary due to the level of modernization achieved at the time. To achieve this, Sebastião José surrounded himself with the best engineers and architects. He consulted everyone. Heard technical opinions from qualified experts. He even requested the opinion of the Portuguese doctor Ribeiro Sanches, then exiled in Paris.
He privileged the proposals of military engineers, namely the urban plans of General Manuel da Maia, Colonel Carlos Mardel and Captain Eugénio dos Santos. The houses built now have a wooden “skeleton” as an anti-seismic structure (the famous cages) and are served by building sewage networks.
Today, experts in disaster management, worldwide, admit that the Lisbon Earthquake was the first natural disaster in which the State ensured emergency responses through the immediate mobilization of all available means, including the military. It was the beginning of Civil Protection, as a State institution.
It took 271 years for “collective learning”!
Former Director General of Health
franciscogeorge@icloud.com
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