The first earthquake of which the chronicles contain a mention is that of 1599. There is no reasonable doubt that during the twenty-eight years which had then elapsed since the founding of Manila by Legaspi, several strong and possibly even destructive earthquakes occurred in this part of Luzon Island, but, as the author of the "Verdadera relacion de la grande destruccion * * * del ano 1645" tells us, "when first founded, Manila consisted of wooden houses roofed with a certain kind of palm leaves, the same which the natives use in their buildings." Hence the damage done by these earthquakes must have been insignificant. Much more terrible were the losses caused by conflagrations which within a few years twice wiped out the entire city. The first Bishop of Manila, Domingo de Salazar, seeing the city exposed to such general destructions by fire like the one of February 14, 1583, gave the first impulse to the construction of stone buildings and worked indefatigably in this direction. In person he explored the surroundings of Manila in quest of stone quarries and by the middle of the year 1591 he had nearly finished his palace and the cathedral, when financial difficulties caused a temporary suspension of the work. At the same time a great number of public and private buildings were under construction. The enthusiasm for structures of stone or brick with tile roofs did not diminish during the next fifty years. The chroniclers tell us that "the Spaniards began to build their houses of stone and tiles without the so necessary precautions against earthquakes. * * * Beautiful structures and dwelling houses were reared, so high and spacious that they resembled palaces; magnificent churches with lofty and graceful towers, within the walls of Manila as well as outside of them: all of which made the city very beautiful and gay and contributed equally to health and pleasure." The disaster of 1645, commonly called the earthquake of St. Andrew, as it occurred on the feast of this apostle, November 30, razed nearly every one of these buildings to the ground, and since then the style and appearance of buildings has changed greatly throughout the Archipelago, with a correspondingly great saving of lives in the subsequent earthquakes.