Belém and Ajuda were the areas around Lisbon suffering the least destruction in the great Lisbon earthquake and the following tsunami on 1 November 1755. Many of the survivors who lost their homes were installed in numerous tents and shacks in the region. King Joseph and his court moved to a complex of tents and barracks located on a part of the royal estates where the Ajuda National Palace would be built. This relocation by the King and his prime minister and Secretary of State, the Marquess of Pombal, attracted commerce and made Belém-Ajuda the centre of the state bureaucracy during the third quarter of the 18th century. A military presence was also deemed important by the government: two regimental infantry barracks under the Count of Lippe, and a cavalry regiment under Mecklenburg were installed. These events consolidated the integration of Belém-Ajuda into the city of Lisbon.