The 1645 Luzon earthquake was one of the most destructive

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s to hit the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It occurred on November 30 at about 08:00 PM local time on

Luzon Island Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, a ...

in the northern part of the country. The island was struck by a 7.5 tremor produced by the San Manuel and Gabaldon Faults (

Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( ; ; ; ), is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Palayan, while Cabanatuan, its former capital, is the largest Local gove ...

) in the central section of the island.

Aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...

s continued a few days, then on December 4 at 11:00 pm, another event (allegedly equal or stronger than November 30) hit the area, causing further death and destruction.Blair, Emma Helen and Robertson, James Alexander (1906)
"The Philippine Islands 1493–1898, Vol. XXXV"
The Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland, OH. p. 226 In Manila, damage was entirely severe: it almost "crumbled" ten newly constructed cathedrals in the capital, residential villas and other buildings. An estimated number of 600 Spanish people were killed, and about 3,000 Spanish were injured.

Epicenter and effects

The most terrible earthquake recorded in the annals of the Archipelago. It might almost be said that from Manila to Cagayan and Ilocos Norte it left no stone upon the other. In the capital, where during the preceding fifty years a great number of stone buildings had been erected, magnificent churches, palaces, and public buildings, as well as private residences and villas, the destruction was frightful. Ten churches were wrecked entirely, to wit: the Royal Chapel, Cathedral, Santo Domingo, those of the Recollects and Franciscans, Santiago, San Antonio, Nuestra Señora de Guia, and the parish churches of

Binondo Binondo (; ) is a district in Manila and is referred to as the city's Chinatown. Its influence extends beyond to the places of Quiapo, Manila, Quiapo, Santa Cruz, Manila, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, Manila, San Nicolas and Tondo, Manila, Tondo. ...

and San Miguel; only San Agustin and the Jesuit Church remained standing. Twelve monasteries, colleges, and hospitals were likewise converted into ruins. No better fared the palace of the Governor-General, the Real Audiencia and up to 150 of the finest residences which, as one author puts it, "in other cities would have been considerable palaces." The rest of the private houses were damaged to so great an extent that the majority had to be demolished. The number of persons killed exceeded 600 and the total of killed and injured is stated to have been 3,000. Outside of Manila there was a general destruction of villas and other buildings which had been erected on both banks of the Pasig River. Throughout the neighboring provinces the masonry structures built by the missionaries suffered the same fate as those in Manila. From the farthest provinces in the north were reported great alterations of the surface with almost complete disappearance of some native villages, changes in the courses of rivers, subsidences of plains, eruptions of sand, etc. All the writers of the time qualify this disturbance as the most disastrous earthquake not only in Luzon, but likewise in

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ), it has a population of 1,408,454, as of the 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of ...

Marinduque Marinduque (; ), officially the Province of Marinduque, is an island province in the Philippines located in Southwestern Tagalog Region or Mimaropa, formerly designated as Region IV-B. Its capital is the municipality of Boac, the most popul ...

, and the other islands south of Luzon. On the other hand, the provinces of Camarines and Albay appear to have suffered little or nothing.

References

{{Coord, 16.741428, N, 121.750488, E, display=title Earthquakes in the Philippines Luzon Earthquake, 1645 1640s earthquakes 1645 disasters History of Manila History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

Epicenter and effects

See also

References