- from The Times - 1 March 1837 CE
LATE EARTHQUAKE IN PALESTINE.
LETTER FROM MR. CHASSEBAUD, THE BRITISH CONSUL, DATED BEYROUT, JAN. 25, AND ADDRESSED TO
MR. JUDAH BENOLIEL, OF GIBRALTAR
" Dear Sir, —I have a most painful task to perform — that of announcing the deaths of out much esteemed friends Mr. and Mrs.
Joshua Levy, of Saffet, and the greater part of their family. I address myself to you on the occasion, instead or doing
so to Mr. Joshua Levy's brother and the other near relatives he may have at your place, in order that You may convey the melancholy
tidings to them after you have prepared them. This horrible catastrophe took place on Sunday, the [latlnat?], late in the afternoon,
though before sunset, where a most violent shock of earthquake destroyed the whale of Saffet, Tiberias, and many of the surrounding
villages, to which our much-lamented friends, Mr.and Mrs. Levy, and the greater part of their family, fell victims, with about 500
other Israelites, and as many Christians and Mussulmans, at Saffet only, without including the great many persons mortally wounded
or maimed, and those who were dug out of the ruins, eight or ten days after, alive, but starved, and in a dying state. Such an appalling
scene is seldom to be met with in the annals of history, and my heart fails in attempting to give you further particulars. While I
lament the lots of those friends who fell, I am happy to say that Mr. Moses Levy, the eldest son of our friend Mr. Joshua Levy
(a lad about 14 years old), as well as Mr. Joshua Levy's sister Mrs. Deborah Cohen, and two of her daughters, escaped unhurt, and
they say they intend soon returning to Gibraltar. It was only the 5th instant (five days after the earthquake) that the few
survivors of Saffet recovered from their stupor, and dispatched messengers to this and other places for assistance to remove the ruins
and bury the dead, and also for tents, coverings, provisions, surgical aid, etc., for the maimed and wounded, none of which they could
obtain from the surrounding villages, which had shared the same fate. We immediately opened a subscription here, and sent them what we could."
Another account estimates the whole number of victims at 3,000.
In consequence of the above melancholy Intelligence the Hebrew community of Gibraltar caused a funeral service to be performed at
the principal synagogue there on the 15th instant during which all their places of business were closed, and immediately after
a subscription was opened at the counting-house of Mr. Judah Benoliel, to which the said community contributed very liberally,
so, as to enable that gentleman to forward a considerable sum of money by the packet about to depart for Malta for the relief of
the surviving sufferers.
— Gibraltar Chronicle of the 17th.
