The Great Earthquake & Fire
On April 18, 1906, an earthquake and fire broke out destroying a majority of San Francisco, killing more than 3,000 people and destroying more than 28,000 buildings. The earthquake split the San Andreas fault line from the north to the south of the city. It has been said that on the day of the earthquake it could be felt from southern Oregon all the way back to Los Angeles and through central Nevada. The earthquake transpired at 5:13 a.m. with an *epicenter* offshore of San Francisco, with about 400,000 people living in the city. A strong aftershock happened about 20-25 seconds after the first one. The big devastating tremors of the first shock lasted for about 42 seconds. San Francisco received most damage from all of the fires that quickly happened after the earthquake. The first tremors of the earthquake destroyed the city’s water mains, leaving a lot of the firefighters with nothing to use to help the people in distress while fighting the growing fires that continued burning for many days and that spreaded throughout most of the city.
The growing fires continued to burn for many days and spread throughout most of the city. In three days there were over 30 fires that caused ruptures in gas mains, and destroyed about 25,000 buildings on 490 city blocks. About 250,000 people living in San Francisco became homeless. About half of those people that were left homeless and could not receive or afford an earthquake shack fled across the bay to Oakland or Berkeley. Many casualties in Chinatown were ignored and were not recorded or noticed by people. In newspapers it was recorded that the Golden Gate Park, Presidio,and most beaches were covered with tents for the refugees. Two years later many of the refugee camps were still being used by the people in distress and trying to get people back up on their feet. The damages of the earthquake costed about $500 million. Thankfully San Francisco quickly recovered from the earthquakes, and fires that had broke out. The only "good" thing that came out of the destruction was that it allowed and helped city workers to create a new and improved one. The people of San Francisco were able to rebuild their city to be much better this encouraged people to build new towns around the Bay area which made more room for more people coming from other parts of the US and other countries to live here.
foot notes:
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco - 1906 Earthquake and Fire (Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco - 1906 Earthquake and Fire)
http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906/06.html
Timeline of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire - 1906 (Timeline of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire - 1906)
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/06timeline.html
The growing fires continued to burn for many days and spread throughout most of the city. In three days there were over 30 fires that caused ruptures in gas mains, and destroyed about 25,000 buildings on 490 city blocks. About 250,000 people living in San Francisco became homeless. About half of those people that were left homeless and could not receive or afford an earthquake shack fled across the bay to Oakland or Berkeley. Many casualties in Chinatown were ignored and were not recorded or noticed by people. In newspapers it was recorded that the Golden Gate Park, Presidio,and most beaches were covered with tents for the refugees. Two years later many of the refugee camps were still being used by the people in distress and trying to get people back up on their feet. The damages of the earthquake costed about $500 million. Thankfully San Francisco quickly recovered from the earthquakes, and fires that had broke out. The only "good" thing that came out of the destruction was that it allowed and helped city workers to create a new and improved one. The people of San Francisco were able to rebuild their city to be much better this encouraged people to build new towns around the Bay area which made more room for more people coming from other parts of the US and other countries to live here.
foot notes:
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco - 1906 Earthquake and Fire (Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco - 1906 Earthquake and Fire)
http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906/06.html
Timeline of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire - 1906 (Timeline of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire - 1906)
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/06timeline.html
the imgae above is of the destruction from the quake
the image in the upper right hand corner is of the earthquake
magnitute and how far it was felt from surrounding city's
magnitute and how far it was felt from surrounding city's
the images above are panorama's of the destruction from the quake and fire