April 18, 1906 - earthquake and fire that destroyed 80% of San Francisco: documentary and footage

VA Viper ^ | 04/16/2018 | Harpygoddess

[harpygoddess]

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on April 18 with an estimated "moment magnitude" of 7.8 and a maximum "Mercalli intensity" of "XI" ("Extreme"). Severe shaking was felt from Eureka on the North Coast to the Salinas Valley, an agricultural region to the south of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Devastating fires soon broke out in the city and lasted for several days. As a result, about 3,000 people died and over 80% of the city of San Francisco was destroyed. The events are remembered as one of the worst and deadliest natural disasters in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history and high in the lists of American urban disasters.

[harpygoddess]

Includes a side by side comparison of trolley car trips down Market Street taken 1. on April 14, 1906, four days before the quake and fire, and 2. shortly after. In addition to the devastation, check out the lack of traffic regulation - the trolley car is on a track, but there's no rhyme or reason to anything else - no traffic lights, no lanes, and no rules.

[Fiji Hill]

Note the lack of vehicle traffic. Reminds me of Moscow, East Berlin, or any Soviet bloc city during the Cold War.

[Pontiac]

As a result, about 3,000 people died and over 80% of the city of San Francisco was destroyed

I have read several articles that state that the city officials deliberately under reported the number of killed.

Considering the report of 80% of the city destroyed that number seems very low.

[Yo-Yo]

[rmccullo]

Looks like it was just as difficult driving down Market St. then as it is now! lol

[RayChuang88]

If the fires hadn’t broken out the damage to the city would have been much lower. Indeed, what made the Great Kanto Earthquake that killed 124,000 people in the Tokyo so dead was the fact that earthquake happened right in the middle of the lunch period when cooking fires were going; as such, the resulting firestorm destroyed most of Tokyo.

[Huskrrrr]

Just sold my Silicon Valley home. Another reason I’m glad to be getting out.

[ghost of nixon]

I have read several articles that state that the city officials deliberately under reported the number of killed.

in Simon Winchester's excellent book, A Crack at the edge of the World, he goes into a lot of detail how the deaths must have been way under-reported.

[logi_cal869]

An honest conversation about the 1906 earthquake would include the corruption which erupted in its wake with the flood of funds to rebuild the city.

Worthy of research and germane to any analysis of CA, particularly the bay area.

[minnesota_bound]

I bet there were clinton like people who stole much of the money given to charity.

[SunkenCiv]

This topic was posted 4/18/2018, thanks harpygoddess.