Lisbon Earthquake and the Transformation of Europe

The year is 1755. 18th century.

200 kilometres west of Cabo de São Vicente in the Atlantic Ocean, an earthquake with a Richter scale of 9. That is, an earthquake of magnitude 8.5 - 9.0, affecting a very large area. Lisbon earthquake

This earthquake at 9.40 am on 1 November 1755 destroys the city of Lisbon in Portugal. 

Not a single building was left standing. Those that survived the first earthquake were destroyed by aftershocks, but even more by fires.

Between 60 thousand and 100 thousand lives were lost in the earthquake.

There were fires in the city with the effect of the earthquake and those who survived the shock of the first earthquake burned to death in these fires. What a disaster!

From Morocco to England, including Spain, everything in coastal cities collapsed due to the tsunami that occurred after the earthquake. Many people drowned and died.

At that time, between 30 thousand and 40 thousand people died in Lisbon alone.  

For Lisbon, which had a population of around 200 thousands people at the time and was the 4th largest city in Europe, this earthquake was a complete destruction.

It would take pages and pages to talk about the economic effects of the earthquake on Portugal, or the loss of Portugal's share of the world due to the earthquake in the world of those days when colonisation was popular. 

With the intervention of the Pope, Brazil in South America was ceded to Portugal and the rest was colonised by the Spanish.

As you can see, the effects of the earthquake for Portugal are quite high.

But in this article, I would like to draw attention to a slightly different issue.

The earthquake sparked a rebellion against the authority in the eyes of the people. Especially the authority of the church.

Not long after, on 5 May 1789, the French Revolution took place. 

Although it was not officially declared on 22 September 1792, it was decided to note in history the actions of the 1st anniversary of the republic, which marked the overthrow of the absolute monarchy and the establishment of the republican order dominated by the people.

The most important factor in this was that the religious authority of the Catholic Church was shaken after the Lisbon earthquake, and then the people opposed all kinds of authority, including the king. It was understood that the order of exploitation carried out by the church together with the king must now come to an end.

Because how could God allow so many pious and innocent people to suffer and die in earthquakes, tsunamis, drownings or fires? 

A city, almost all of whom were religious in those days, was levelled to the ground.

With those affected from neighbouring countries, around 100 thousand deaths! 

How could God allow this?

With these thoughts, the church and its authority began to be questioned in Europe.

However, people still do not want to lose their faith in God, because faith is an emotion, a feeling that people need from birth. 

It arises from the necessity of establishing a cause and effect relationship that there must be a being who causes the events around him that he cannot comprehend.

But the church? This is where people are sceptical. Some question the belief in God altogether.

With the questioning of religion and God that started with this great earthquake disaster, Europe decided in those days that this work had nothing to do with God and turned its direction to science and science.

Leaving the belief world of people to themselves, it has completely separated the influence of the church from the state administration. We call this secularism.

Then, in the 19th century, it switched to a completely different living order with the rising secularism movements.

Here is the industrial age in the light of science!

In other words, major disasters such as earthquakes can actually have a triggering effect on the living arrangements of societies and have the effect of changing their living arrangements. 

But this effect does not happen immediately. It lasts for decades. Maybe for centuries.

Therefore, I don't know how long the people will be able to believe those who try to explain this earthquake centred in Kahramanmaraş as a fateful plan.

Maybe at the first moment, with the pain in their hearts, there will be some people among the public who will accept that this is fate, that this is a fateful plan, but the vast majority, being aware of who is really to blame, may be silent for the time being under the shock effect.

However, after overcoming the shock effect of this disaster, people will realise that the cause of this disaster is not God but man. 

When I say man, I do not mean that man is the cause of the earthquake as a natural phenomenon. Earthquake is a natural phenomenon.

The cause of the disaster is man, not God!

The cause of this catastrophe is the negligence of man, especially the negligence of the ruling power arising from the order it has established for so many years! Perhaps more than negligence, it is intent!

If you have been in power for so many years, if you turn a deaf ear to science and the warnings of scientists, you will not be able to get out of it so easily by transferring the blame to Allah by saying that it is a fateful plan.

Do you think it will do you any good if you then say, "Let's make peace?" When you make peace, you will say, "I am satisfied with you." Are you satisfied?

Moreover, you are asking for our forgiveness because you were late in the first days when you wanted to say goodbye. 

You do not ask for forgiveness because we have neglected for twenty-odd years, we have turned aid organisations into aid organisations, we did not attach importance to merit, and we have messed everything up with the rent system we have established.

You say that you were a bit late in the first days due to the weather conditions, so you ask for forgiveness. And you don't even blush when you say this!

According to official statements, there are over 45 thousand casualties. Much more, but come on.

Even if we accept this statement as true, what about them? 

Will they honour you? 

Will the woman under the rubble who said, "Don't try to save me anymore, my baby froze to death, will they honour you? 

Ask her if you find her. She died with her baby in her arms! You couldn't get her out! She died in pain, her heart aching!

What the government has done in these last days wearies me. 

What they haven't done makes my nerves jump when I think about it.

Perhaps it would be much better for all of us if they never opened their mouths.

In short, after such a disaster, this society has to draw its direction for the future. 

Either we will improve our quality of life with science and we will not experience such disasters again. 

Or we will be dragged after the religious mongers for a while longer and be completely erased from the page of history. Because they cannot keep us alive in this land with this point of view!

Everyone's world of belief is their own business, but if the aim is to govern a country, if the aim is to leave a beautiful world to our future generations, this work is only possible with science and science.

Europe has reached this consciousness in time, I think there is no reason for us not to reach that consciousness.

Let me not make it any longer.

Stay with science, you will not be wrong!

With love and respect to everyone from Moscow