A massive earthquake struck the Mendoza region of Argentina completely destroying the towns Mendoza, San Juan, and St. Louis. The brief, eight-second tremor began at 8:30 in the evening when most people were at home and a reported eight to ten thousand people died, with thousands more injured. In Mendoza, scores were killed at evening mass, the prison lost all but eight of its one hundred inmates, and the convent had 120 of its 150 nuns killed. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Chronicle, The Annual Register or a View of the History and Politics of the Year 1861 (London: F. & J. Rivington, 1862), p. 39-40.