Home | Reference & Education
The city of San Francisco suffered tremendous disaster in the morning hours of April 18, 1906 when a phenomenally strong earthquake shook the California city to its core. The natural disaster was enough to reduce the city and many of its buildings to rubble, but the fire that resulted from ruptured gas lines continued to ravage the city for three days after the quake. On the modern Richter scale, the 1906 earthquake would measure a whopping 8.25, making the quake substantially more powerful than the 1989 quake that rocked the city at 6.7 on the scale. Striking at 5:15 am, many of the city’s residents were asleep in their beds when the ground started shaking and threatened to swallow the city whole. The quakes crippled the city’s transportation, communication, power, sewer, and water systems, leaving it vulnerable to the fires that sprouted all over San Francisco. The fires resulting from the ruptured gas lines soon engulfed this Northern Californian town in flames. Government buildings, hotels, schools, offices all burned to their complete destruction and all that was left of them was the charred remains. The Fairmont Hotel, which had been just constructed, was totally destroyed in the fire before it could start business. Nearly 490 city blocks were completely destroyed by the earthquake and the fire. The city was totally ruined and the helpless citizens struggled to find family members, neighbors, and friends who were lost in the rubble. Doctors and nurses worked day and night to take care of the wounded in damaged hospitals without power and facing shortages of critical medications, bandages, and other tools. When the firefighters and common citizens working together finally recovered from the three-day stretch of destruction, they evaluated the damage. The number of buildings completely destroyed was 25,000 and those structurally damaged and requiring a great deal of time and money to rebuild and reconstruct were twice as many. The damages calculated on the turn-of-the-century dollar rates went way above $350,000,000 in cost. Many businesses and homeowners abandoned their dreams to relocate and rebuild in an area considered safer. It took the city many years to get back on its feet. The homeless men, women and children were around 250,000. But the San Franciscans rose above their sorrows and bandied together to give shelter to the homeless in buildings that were not destroyed in the quake or fire. The San Franciscans worked hard and quick to rebuild, creating shelters to the homeless. In those three days 450 to 700 individuals lost their lives. There were many horror stories that came to light when men, women, and children recounted the terrible sights of humans burning alive in the streets. Entire families were killed, and many children became orphans due to the disasters. However, the city got together to work and help the survivors. The great earthquake and fire of 1906 shaped the city’s mindset. This event will forever be etched in the memory and history of San Francisco.
Penelope Banchit is the owner of F san francisco, the web's premier resource for information about san francisco. For questions or comments about this article visit: www.allofsanfrancisco.com/articles Visit our san francisco article directory for a completely unique version of this article.
Article Source:- Link Building
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
