On the island of Faial, belonging to the Azores archipelago, was formed by volcanism like most of the Azorean island. The island also happens to be affected by earthquakes. One of the places we chose to stop was in the village of Ribeirinha. Several buildings that were hit by the earthquake in 1998 are still standing.
The church dedicated to São Mateus still stands as a ghostly monument to the earthquake that killed some of the island's inhabitants on 9 July 1998 and left 1,700 people homeless. IT lasted only 28 seconds and was hardly measurable on Richer's scale, but could be felt on the neighboring islands of São Jorge and Pico. Because the epicenter was as close as 5 kilometers off Ponta da Ribeirinha on the coast, it caused this area to be the most damaged.
The bell tower is found in the front of the church where we can still see four arches that supported the bells. Once the church had one main bell and three smaller. If we could have entered the church and walked down the corridor, we should see eigth arches - four to the left and four to the right. We didn't enter, but as we walked along the side of the church we recognized the arches.
We did't go into the buildings themselves. It was not allowed. We chose to walk around the church to look into windows and doorways that were missing both glass and the door itself. On an information board at the entrance we could read about the earthquake, but also about the church itself. We learned that the church was dedicated to São Mateus because he was the saint of the parish.
Next to the church is the cemetery which appears to be intact. Right by the church we saw several small abandoned houses with cracked walls and missing windows. We found no information about it, but guessed that they might have been damaged during the same earthquake as the church. The flowers and green lushness around the church stand in stark contrast to the grey, dilapidated appearance of the ruins.
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Bonitas fotos @digi-yo. Este año estuve a punto de hacer un viaje a las Azores de una semana pero al final elegimos otro destino. Tenemos pendiente ir a hacer trekking, bañarnos en las aguas termales y disfrutar de ese clima frío y húmedo.
Se ve increíble la iglesia, una pena que apenas se mantenga en pie la fachada.
The Azores are incredibly green, lush, wild and beautiful. I really enjoyed it so much.