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Alexander von Humboldt: „Earthquake at Caraccas“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1819-Baron_Humboldts_Personal_Heft1-23-neu> [abgerufen am 24.04.2024].
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| Titel | Earthquake at Caraccas | ||||||
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| Jahr | 1837 | ||||||
| Ort | London | ||||||
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Nachweis in: Tales of Travellers; or, a View of the World 1:32 (13. Mai 1837), S. [249]–251, Tafel.
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung; Schmuck: Kapitälchen; Besonderes: Zeichnung. | ||||||
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|249||Spaltenumbruch|
There is something so awful in theterrible catastrophe which befel the cityof Caraccas, in South America, on the26th of March, 1812, that we cannotforbear transferring some account of itto our pages.
A great drought prevailed at thisperiod in the province of Venezuala.Not a single drop of rain had fallen atCaraccas, or in the country ninety leaguesround, during the five months whichpreceded the destruction of the capital.The 26th of March was a remarkablyhot day. The air was calm and the skyunclouded. It was holy Thursday, anda great part of the population was as-sembled in the churches. Nothingseemed to presage the calamities of theday. At seven minutes after four in theafternoon, the first shock was felt; it|Spaltenumbruch|was sufficiently powerful to make thebells of the churches toll; it lasted fiveor six seconds, during which time theground was in a continual undulatingmovement, and seemed to heave up likea boiling liquid. The danger wasthought to be past, when a tremendoussubterraneous noise was heard, resem-bling the rolling of thunder, but louderand of longer continuance than thatheard within the tropics in time of storms.This noise preceded a perpendicularmotion of three or four seconds, followedby an undulatory movement somewhatlonger. The shocks were in oppositedirections, from north to south, andfrom east to west. Nothing could resistthe movement from beneath upward,and undulations crossing each other.The town of Caraccas was entirely over-
|250||Spaltenumbruch|thrown. Thousands of the inhabitants(between nine and ten thousand) wereburied under the ruins of the houses andchurches. The procession had not yetset out; but the crowd was so great inthe churches, that nearly three or fourthousand persons were crushed by thefall of their vaulted roofs. The ex-plosion was stronger toward the north,in that part of the town situate nearestthe mountain of Avila, and the Silla. The churches of La Trinidad and AltaGracia, which were more than one hun-dred and fifty feet high, and the navesof which were supported by pillars oftwelve or fifteen feet diameter, left amass of ruins scarcely exceeding five orsix feet in elevation. The sinking of theruins has been so considerable, that therenow scarcely remain any vestiges ofpillars or columns. The barracks, called
El Quartel de San Carlos, situated far-ther nort of the church of the Trinity,on the road from the Custom-house dela Pastora, almost entirely disappeared.A regiement of troops of the line, thatwas assembled under amrs, ready tojoin the procession, was, with the ex-ception of a few men, buried under theruins of this great edifice. Nine-thenthsof the fine town of Caraccas were en-tirely destroyed. The walls of thehouses that were not thrown down, asthose of the street San Juan, near theCapuchin Hospital, were cracked in sucha manner, that it was impossible to runthe risk of inhabiting them. The effectsof the earthquake were somewhat lessviolent in the western and southern partsof the city, between the principal squareand the ravin of Caraquata. There, thecathedral, supported by enormous but-tresses, remains standing.Estimating at nine or ten thousandthe number of the dead in the city ofCaraccas, we do not include those un-happy persons who, dangerously wound-ed, perished several months after, forwant of food and proper care. Thenight of Holy Thursday presented themost distressing scene of desolation andsorrow. The thick cloud of dust which,rising above the ruins, darkened the skylike a fog, had settled on the ground.No shock was felt, and never was anight more calm, or more serene. Themoon, nearly full, illumined the roundeddomes of the Silla, and the aspect of the|Spaltenumbruch|sky formed a perfect contrast to that ofthe earth, covered with the dead, andheaped with ruins. Mothers were seenbearing in their arms their children,whom they hoped to recal to life. De-solate families wadered through thecity seeking a brother, a husband, afriend, of whose fate they were ignorant,and whom they believed to be lost in thecrowd. The people pressed along thestreets, which could no more be recog-nized but by long lines of ruins.All the calamities experienced in thegreat catastrophes of Lisbon, Messina,Lima, and Riobamba were renewed onthe fatal day of the 26th March, 1812.The wounded, buried under the ruins, implored by their cries the help of thepassers by, and nearly two thousandwere dug out. Never was pity displayedin a more affecting manner; never hadit been seen more ingenuously active,than in the efforts employed to save themiserable victims, whose groans reachedthe ear. Implements for digging andclearing away the ruins were instantlywanting; and the people were obligedto use their bare hands, to disinter theliving. The wounded, as well as thesick who had escaped from the hospitals,were laid on the banks of the small riverGuayra. They found no shelter but thefoliage of trees. Beds, linen to dressthe wounds, instruments of surgery,medicines, and objects of the most urgentnecessity, were buried under the ruins.Everything, even food, was wanting dur-ing the first days. Water became alikescarce into the interior of the city. Thecommotions had rent the pipes of thefountains; the falling in of the earth hadchoaked up the springs that suppliedthem; and it became necessary, in orderto have water, to go down to the riverGuayra, which was considerably swelled; and then vessels to convey the waterwere wanting.There remained a duty to be fulfilledtowards the dead, enjoined at once bypiety, and the dread of infection. Itbeing impossible to inter so many thou-sand corpses, half-buried under the ruins,commissaries were appointed to burnthe bodies; and for this purpose fu-neral piles were erected between theheaps of ruins. This ceremony lastedseveral days. Amid so many publiccalamities, the peole devoted themselves
|251||Spaltenumbruch|to those religious duties, which theythought were the most fitted to appeasethe wrath of Heaven. Some, assemblingin processions, sang funeral hymns;others, in a state of distraction, confessedthemselves aloud in the streets. In thistown was now repeated what had beenremarked in the province of Quito, afterthe tremendous earthquake of 1767; anumber of marriages were contractedbetween persons, who had neglected formany years to sanction their union bythe sacerdotal benedicition. Childrenfound parents, by whom they had nevertill then been acknowledged; restitu-tions were promised by persons, whohad never been accused of fraud; andfamilies, who had long been enemies, weredrawn together by the tie of commoncalamity.
EARTHQUAKE AT CARACCAS.
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