Providing Temporal and Spiritual Assistance: Responses to the 1687 Earthquake in Lima

The study of natural disasters and their effects on the societies afflicted has increased during the last decades. The analysis of such instances of crisis created by these natural events has served to understand unusual patterns of political, economic, social, and cultural performance that traditional historiography has been unable to explain. Richard Olson (2000) emphasizes the relationship between disaster and politics. He states that a disaster can easily become a political crisis because of the increase of demands on the political system, and the complexity of such demands. The 1687 earthquake of Lima provides a case study to evaluate these ideas because the chaos and destruction of the city required the immediate attention of both the civil and religious authorities, who were supposed to respond to the material and spiritual needs of the population. In this particular case, it is possible to observe a quick, organized and positive response from the royal officials which contrasts with the segregated and even elusive response ofthe ecclesiastical institutions. This post-disaster situation clearly differs with the traditional images of a strong Church and a weak colonial regime that is usually associated with the late seventeenth – century Spanish Empire.