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Almost 100 years have passed since the strongest earthquake in Serbia, of which there is no trace, and since then little has changed in the human experience of this problem. People reacted to the earthquake in a similar way to now, and official seismic stations did not go very far in “predicting” this land disaster.
When an earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale struck Lazarevac, Belgrade and Serbia in 1922, “Politika” wrote in its daily edition the day after the natural disaster, and “Blic” reports the most interesting parts of that newspaper.
Black March 24 is, in fact, a notorious date in Serbian history. On that day in 1999, the NATO bombing of our country began, and few people know that 77 years earlier, the strongest earthquake in Serbia in the last three centuries occurred on that “letter” of the calendar. So strong that all of Belgrade was on its feet and out.
“Belgrade welcomes its earthquake”
The “Politika” journalists described it in their own way:
– Yesterday, Belgrade experienced something that it had not thought about for almost thirty years: it received an earthquake, and a strong one of its own, the Belgrade earthquake. That earthquake was the strongest earthquake Serbia has ever recorded, and its center was in the vicinity of Belgrade, so it can really be called Belgrade, says the beginning of the text about the earthquake near Lazarevac in the March 25 issue 1922 from “Politika”. years.
Journalists from the oldest newspaper then reported on how the inhabitants of the capital welcomed the earthquake.
– Yesterday afternoon between an hour and an hour and a half, while many Belgraders were still sitting for coffee after lunch, each of them suddenly heard a loud and unusual rumble that was a bit like the rumble of a car huge, and somewhat to the sound of a loud siren. . The roar got louder and louder, and a little later there was a strong earthquake that began to shake all the houses from the ground up with a crash and a crash. Only then did people begin to realize that it was an earthquake, and when the roar and earthquake grew louder, fear arose among them as if the end of the world had occurred – it is written in “Politika”.
Panic is as dangerous as shaking the ground
As he says, “everything alive ran out of the house.”
– No one looked back, everyone looked just to save themselves. So mothers, sometimes, at the first fear of something new, unknown, terrifying, they even left their children at home and ran into the street and only later saw what they were doing and rushed to look for their children: in places where there were more people. together, a true panic ensued, from which many came out oppressed and trampled; From some buildings that are being built, the workers jumped from scaffolding and from the highest floors, not thinking that this could break their legs and necks, and from every house they heard the cries of children and the wailing of women . And it is a real happiness that the earthquake occurred immediately after lunch, when cinemas and schools were still empty, otherwise the panic accident would have been much greater – describes “Politika”.
“Observatory”: earthquake epicenter southeast of Belgrade
An announcement about the earthquake issued by the Tasmajdan seismological station could also be read in the newspapers.
– Today at 13 hours, 23 minutes and 35 seconds the first hit occurred. The ground was constantly shaking with an underground roar, so at 13 hours, 28 minutes and 10 seconds, another weaker shock occurred. The earth continued to shake weaker and weaker until 1:00 p.m. 45 minutes and 40 seconds, and then the vibrations occurred, which only the devices register. According to the provisional budget, the center is located in the vicinity of Belgrade, southeast, the announcement said.
General fear of the “second earthquake”
The following “Politika” columns are proof that people had similar concerns 100 years after the earthquake as they do today.
– When the country finally calmed down, the fear of the people of Belgrade began to gradually subside. People were coming to their senses and starting to look around, seeking to see the damage that the earthquake had caused. And when they determined that the damage to their house was not great, they began to inquire about other parts of Belgrade and then to visit the city in person. And if the wind continued to blow strong through the streets of Belgrade, they were filled with the world until dusk, which was still assured by walks through Belgrade, asking to be as outside as possible, writes the oldest newspaper.
But a new fear soon emerged, “Politika” reported.
– Suddenly, the news spread from somewhere, as the “observatory” predicted that a new earthquake would occur at four in the afternoon. The news spread rapidly throughout Belgrade, passed non-stop by word of mouth, phone to phone, and when it was four hours ago, there was very little left in Belgrade houses; everything was outside, in a safe place. And only when four hours passed, and the earthquake did not occur again, that same world began to show that no one lives, so not even the “observatory” is capable of predicting the earthquake. But still, even after that, many Belgraders spent the night outside his home last night, with acquaintances or relatives, in a building that was safer for him, the text says.
Psychosis in pubs
According to “Poltika”, the most vivid fear at the time of the earthquake was happening in restaurants.
– There was still enough light in Belgrade restaurants when the earthquake occurred. However, his guests, although terrified, managed to escape to the street everywhere without a large crowd, and the greatest damage was, perhaps, the “palkelners” who did not even think of chasing their customers – they explain in “Politika”.
But if the restaurants at that time were quite empty, the cafes were much more crowded, the newspapers write.
– The panic that reigned in them could have been much more fatal in many places. Especially in “Moscow”, the crowd was large. According to some purely our methods, the doors of that place were made to open from the inside, not from the outside, and when the frightened world ran away, there was an immediate stop at all exits, in which many ribs were badly crushed. A Russian was pulling a chair to break a large bar window because he couldn’t get out the door. and a Yugoslav officer kept a chair over his head the whole time to protect himself from being buried by the ruins – “Politika” concluded
Reports of earthquakes in Serbia
On March 25, 1922, Politika wrote that according to reports coming from the interior, it appeared that the strongest earthquake was in Belgrade. Reports from individual places were posted on “Politika” as follows:
- Smederevo – A strong earthquake, lasting six to seven seconds, ended without damage.
- Krusevac – Light earthquake, two seconds.
- Ćuprija – Strong earthquake, seven seconds. There was no damage.
- Nis: strong, 10 seconds, no damage.
- Valjevo – Strong, lasted 15 seconds, the damage was negligible.
- Kamenica (Valjevo) – A strong earthquake lasted ten seconds. The county building cracked.
- Sabac – Earthquake, twenty seconds, no damage.
- Vranje: eight seconds, no damage.
- Pozarevac: eight seconds, no damage.
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