Good morning, time is flying by and it is now time for another documentary suggestion. Now I am going further into time and looking at the Earthquake that struck Lisbon in 1755. The run time for this documentary is 49:15. The documentary is called 1755: The Lisbon Earthquake.
In 1755 an earthquake struck Lisbon and it would become known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake. It was the first natural disaster to strike the heart of a large European city. The earthquake began on November 1, 1755, at 9:40 AM. It was an estimated 8.5 on the Richter scale and caused widespread destruction throughout Lisbon. It also triggered a tsunami. About 60,000-100,000 people died as a result of the earthquake and tsunami which would impact Portugal as a whole. How does this earthquake continue to resonate with people today? Lisbon was a great port on the Atlantic Ocean however very few of the buildings are over 200 years old. The earthquake was centered in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 miles away from Lisbon, Portugal. Although Lisbon bore the brunt of the earthquake, its impacts were felt as far as Finland. Water levels would change in the Azores as well. Today a team of marine scientists is searching for evidence of the 1755 Earthquake. They go to a place where three continental plates come together where they are looking, it is a highly active place in the Atlantic. This area makes Europe vulnerable. There have been documented tsunamis in the Mediterranean Sea. November 1 began like an ordinary day. The King attended mass and had a picnic for the elite of Portugal. People attend mass. Merchants did their trading. The people were celebrating All Saints Day, so things were taking longer. A brand-new opera house opens and it is the latest in technology. Lisbon was considered one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe and if you haven’t seen Lisbon, you have not seen anything. Back in the present day, scientists are carefully scanning the ocean floor. They send sounding devices down to the ocean floor. These devices monitor movement and sound on the ocean floor or in the water. Thirteen devices will be sent down in an area known for its earthquakes. The sea floor is also drilled for core samples and these samples show the history of the ocean. These samples provide a record of undersea earthquakes and those earthquakes cause landslides. The landslides will create layers showing different periods of earthquakes. The citizens of 1755 Lisbon would have been setting up the All Saints Day Market. However, the animals are panicking in the marketplace. Then all of a sudden, the houses started to shake. The people do nothing, losing valuable time. All of a sudden, every church bell rings on its own. Walls and ceilings start to collapse. Everyone heads outside and out of danger. 17,000 houses are destroyed. Most earthquake victims are found in churches. Earthquake tremors are felt as far as Africa. You really felt the build-up to the earthquake in the film. Then there is a discussion on what causes earthquakes. One scientist talks about how a huge release of energy was behind the 1755 Earthquake. It was surprising to hear that only four earthquakes actually damage buildings over the hundreds of earthquakes around the world. Then there is a demonstration of the shaking table, it is a table that can replicate the conditions for an earthquake. So what would have happened to the people in 1755? Why was the 1755 Earthquake so destructive? How would Lisbon rebuild? Tune into the rest of the episode to find out. You never really think of tsunamis on the Atlantic Ocean, you would think that it was more of a Pacific Ocean phenomenon. It was also rather interesting that scientists take cores from the sea floor, and that they provide a record of Earth’s history like ice cores do. The dramatizations were very well done. I would show it to a science class because the investigation is being done to try to understand the 1755 Earthquake. This was a very well-done documentary, going back and forth between the recreations and the modern science. It could have been a little big longer, but I am not going to quibble over that.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |