We’ve all heard about the explosion of Vesuvius on 24th August AD79 that wiped out Pompeii, which is just by Naples. Did you know that an even bigger earthquake hit Naples, just next to Pompeii, on 5th December 1456 killing 35,000 people?
It does make you wonder when the next big one will hit southern Italy.
The December 5th earthquake.
It was the largest earthquake to hit the Kingdom of Naples, ever! It had an estimated magnitude of 7.4Mw
Where did it hit?
It happened near the town of Pontelandolfo, which is 50 miles inland from Naples, in the Province of Benevento. It resulted in a major destruction of the whole area. It is estimated that 70,000 people were killed!
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it, as on December 30th there were two further earthquakes recorded at Mw 7.0 Mw and 6.0 Mw just north of Naples on December 30.
I think history is telling us that Southern Italy is an earthquake area.
The Effects
It is claimed that 70,000 people died in the first earthquake.
In the town of Isernia, just 60 miles north of Naples, at the time it had a population of 2,023, and would you believe 1,500 of them died. Even Naples itself was affected, it lost somewhere between 100 and 150 people as many homes and churches collapsed. In fact, the effect in the area was frightening, for example, the city of Ariano was totally wiped out, and it took until 1470 to rebuild it.
What made it such a disaster was that the damage continued until May 1457, as the aftershocks were continuous!
The Tsunami
Of course, the eruptions caused a Tsunami, one that had boats crashing all around the Gulf of Taranto, and the Ionian coastline.
The Aftermath
This is the shocking bit, Alfonso V of Aragon, the King of Aragon, received news of the disaster while he was staying in Apulia. He didn’t return to Naples until early February 1457, then wouldn’t give any tax exemptions to those who survived in the affected towns.
He argued that everyone should pay tax as they would inherit a fortune as they would own the houses, the ones they inherited from those who were killed. This didn’t go down well as their fortunes were broken down houses! He went even further, as he wasn’t prepared to give any aid to the local towns to help them rebuild. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, because he did fund the reconstruction of military fortresses, roads and bridges as a form of protection for him.
Today things would have been different, do you think he could have got away with being this hard, as nowadays, inevitably, 24 hour news would have been on his case.?
Isn’t history fun?
10 questions to discuss:
- How does the magnitude of the December 5th earthquake compare to other significant earthquakes in history?
- What were the major effects of the December 5th earthquake on the town of Isernia?
- Can you describe the extent of the destruction caused by the December 5th earthquake in the city of Ariano?
- What role did aftershocks play in prolonging the impact of the December 5th earthquake?
- How did the December 5th earthquake contribute to the creation of a tsunami, and what were its effects?
- What was King Alfonso V of Aragon’s response to the disaster, and how did it affect the affected towns?
- Why did King Alfonso V refuse to grant tax exemptions or aid to the survivors of the earthquake?
- How did the lack of assistance from King Alfonso V impact the rebuilding efforts of the affected towns?
- In what ways did the December 5th earthquake highlight the seismic vulnerability of Southern Italy?
- How might the response to the December 5th earthquake have been different if modern communication and media were available at the time?
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©Tony Dalton