The 1755 Lisbon earthquake made two-thirds of a prosperous city uninhabitable. Among European intellectuals, the disaster inspired widespread doubts about the beneficence of the deity and a fear that human effort was vain against the powers of nature. The former issue remains open, but Friday’s earthquake in Japan and tsunami will show that people can indeed limit the damage from what insurers call acts of God.
1755年裏斯本地震摧毀了這座繁榮的城市，三分之二的地區不再適宜居住。經過這起天災，歐洲知識分子對神祇的仁愛產生了廣泛的懷疑，也因爲人類的努力在大自然面前的蒼白無力而充滿恐懼。神祇是否仁愛或許尚無結論，但週五日本發生的地震和海嘯卻顯示出，人類的確能夠控制保險公司所說的「不可抗力」所造成的損失。
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