1717 Earthquake: Arecibo, Puerto Rico, US Territories

Reference #14050:

Until now there are no known first hand reports of this supposed earthquake. Given that no primary sources have been found in Europe to document this event, despite this being a period well represented by reports from Puerto Rico, one can only assume that the damage caused by the event was not considered significant and/or no damage was caused by it in the capital of the island (San Juan), that there is an error in date, or that the event never occurred. It is difficult to accept that an event strong enough to have ruined the church in Arecibo and make useless the church in San Germán would go unnoticed in contemporary records.

There is no first hand report that the church in Arecibo was ruined by an event in 1717. Cadilla (1961) does not give a source and the only other known source is Coll y Toste, (1925). Therein they say the church in Arecibo was ruined (arruinada) by the great earthquake in 1717. However, the only data we have for damage to the Arecibo church in the 18th century is in 1787 not 1717. In fact the word “ruined” are used by several eyewitness reports for the damage caused to the church in 1787, coincidentially it is used by the only (20 century) reports for the 1717 earthquake as well. This opens the possibility that Coll y Toste (1925) have a typographical error referring to the great earthquake of 1717, when they meant 1787.

This event is non-existent, being caused by an apparent typographical error in the report by Coll y Toste (1925). It should be noted as a non-existent event in further catalogs. Their references to this great earthquake should be transferred to the earthquake of May 2nd, 1787.