In his record of the earthquake that struck the Chilean city of Concepcion in 1836, Charles Darwin (who was there with the crew of HMS Beagle) told how British consul Henry Rouse narrowly escaped harm when his residence collapsed, by clambering to safety on the ruins, and how in the confusion many were agonisingly separated from their families.

Darwin went on to describe the aftermath of the quake, with fires breaking out and looters picking over the ruins. All this prompted him to reflect that if the British Isles were in an earthquake zone, not only would we continually face death and disease but stable things from historic buildings to banks and civic records would lose all permanence.

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