July 29, 1773 Earthquake: Antigua, Guatemala

July 29, 1773, Guatemala, violent shocks recurred. Still later (the exact date not given) another earthquake completed the damage done before [June 3, 1773], and the city was afterwards rebuilt (for the third time) four leagues to the west of its former site. From Huot (Geologie, t.i. p. 112) giving the 29th June as the date of 45,000 people perishing by an earthquake in America, without specifying the place, it is possible that this event occurred at Guatemala at the end of June not July. (reference #496)

1773. Very famous, this earthquake destroyed almost completely the city of Antigua, former Capital, motivating its transfer to the present site. Enormous temples, public buildings and houses were destroyed, remaining their ruins at present, as national monuments. (reference #1107)

June 10, 1773, Antigua, Guatemala, 100 dead. (reference #1051)

July 29, 1773, Guatemala, 100 dead, capital city moved to present site. (reference #1002)

July 29, 1773, Guatemala and Chile, Santiago in Guatemala, Copiapo in Chile, intensity III which corresponds to an earthquake which destroyed towns and devastated districts. This and the two previous entries probably refer to the same event. (reference #1055)

July 29, 1773, VIII+: Antigua to L. Atitlan (G); VII: Ostuncalco, Mazatenango to Escuintla and Guatemala City area. 5-600 died immediately, 600+ died later; destruction in first 2 sec; violent foreshock; all churches within this area ruined [duration 1 min] (reference #14066)

According to the descriptions of the historian Juarros, an eyewitness, collected by Montessus (1888), the tremors in Guatemala began in mid-May 1773, with greater frequency in the last days of the month, and were not violent until 11 June […] On the 29th of July at 15:45 the inhabitants left their houses, fortunately, because 7 minutes later, a formidable tremor destroyed the city (Antigua). For a little less than a minute the vibrations were horizontal, vertical, rotating and trembling, at the rate of ‘ten oscillations per second’. Vassaux (1969) notes that the existing data on the characteristics of the movements are: apparent horizontal displacement of the earth, half a rod (45 cm) and approximate period, 0.60 seconds. The number of victims in the Pancho Valley town has been strongly exaggerated by Huot (1872) at 45,000; Mallet (1853) gives between 5 and 8,000 families as victims. In reality 123 corpses were removed and Montessus (1888) estimates that they did not exceed 600; taking into account those who perished in flight, from starvation and disease, this figure could be twice as high […] Apparently, according to Dollfus, A. and Mont-Serrat, E. de (1868) the earthquake was felt in Mexico. There were many aftershocks, including one on 7 September which overturned some walls. On 13 December the city was destroyed by another aftershock, with cracks in the ground and the collapse of hills. This catastrophe definitively decided the transfer of the capital city from the Panchoy valley to the Ermita valley, some 50 kilometres to the northeast of the first, the place it currently occupies. Juarros notes that: ‘even if (the reconstruction) were easier, ... it would mean working for 30 to 40 years more; and if it were planted in another place it could last much longer’. (reference #124)