But in Ms. Neiman's account, the earthquake in Lisbon disrupted all that.

Wars, Reconstruction, riots, earthquakes and floods didn't disrupt the democratic rhythm.

The market received some support from concerns that the strong earthquake in Iran yesterday could disrupt supplies, said Jim Ritterbusch, an analyst with Paine Webber in Chicago.

Copper prices surged yesterday after traders worried that a moderate earthquake in Chile could disrupt supplies from the country, the world's leading producer and exporter of the metal.

Prices for dynamic random access memory chips, known as D-RAM, have risen sharply in the last few weeks since the earthquake in Taiwan disrupted production there.

(The recent earthquakes in Taiwan may have disrupted the shipment of key components enough to send prices back up.)

The 2011 Oklahoma earthquake provided an example of how an earthquake can affect a university campus and disrupt daily operations with no notice.

But the FT said that the earthquake might disrupt supplies of computer chips to the world market.

But they will probably be discounted by the market because harsh winter weather discouraged consumer purchases and a major earthquake disrupted California's economy.

The earthquake accentuated political tensions in Portugal and profoundly disrupted the country's 18th century colonial ambitions.