Kingston was founded in July 1693 after the earthquake that devastated Port Royal in 1692, the original section of the city which was situated at the bottom of the Liguanea Plains was laid out to house survivors of the earthquake. Before the earthquake, Kingston's functions were purely agricultural. The earthquake survivors set up a camp on the sea front. Approximately two thousand people died due to mosquito-borne diseases. Initially the people lived in a tented camp on Colonel Barry's ''Hog Crawle''. The town did not begin to grow until after the further destruction of Port Royal by fire in 1703. Surveyor John Goffe drew up a plan for the town based on a grid bounded by North, East, West and Harbour Streets. The new grid system of the town was designed to facilitate commerce, particularly the system of main thoroughfares  across, which allowed transportation between the port and plantations farther inland. By 1716 it had become the largest town and the centre of trade for Jamaica.