1906 San Francisco earthquake: Difference between revisions
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{{Redirect|San Francisco earthquake|the 1989 earthquake|1989 Loma Prieta earthquake|the 2014 earthquake|2014 South Napa earthquake}} |
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{{Infobox earthquake |
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|title = 1906 San Francisco earthquake |
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|timestamp = 1906-04-18 13:12:27 |
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|isc-event = 16957905 |
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|anss-url = official19060418131226300_12 |
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|local-date = {{Start date|1906|4|18}} |
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|local-time = 05:12 a.m. local time |
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|map = |
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|map2 = {{Location map+ |USA California |relief=1 |
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|places = |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=40.80|long=-124.16|label_size=100|label=Eureka|position=top|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=41.22|long=-122.27|label_size=100|label=Dunsmuir|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=39.74|long=-121.84|label_size=100|label=Chico|position=left|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=39.34|long=-120.20|label_size=100|label=Truckee|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=38.45|long=-122.7|label_size=100|label=Santa Rosa|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=36.68|long=-121.66|label_size=100|label=Salinas|position=left|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=35.37|long=-119.02|label_size=100|label=Bakersfield|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=36.75|long=-119.77|label_size=100|label=Fresno|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=35.47|long=-120.65|label_size=100|label=Paso Robles|position=left|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=34.03|long=-118.49|label_size=100|label=Santa Monica|position=left|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=33.72|long=-116.22|label_size=100|label=Indio|position=left|mark=Green pog.svg}} |
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{{Location map~|California|lat=37.75|long=-122.55|mark=Bullseye1.png|marksize=40}} |
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|label = |
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|position = top |
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|width = 260 |
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|float = right |
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|caption = }} |
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|magnitude = 7.9 [[Moment magnitude scale|M<sub>w</sub>]]<ref name=BSL/> |
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|depth = {{convert|5|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name=lomax>[http://alomax.free.fr/posters/1906-focus/ Location of the Focal Region and Hypocenter of the California Earthquake of April 18, 1906]</ref> |
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|intensity = [[Mercalli intensity scale|XI (''Extreme'')]]<ref name=Stover/> |
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|countries affected = [[North Coast (California)|North Coast]] <br> [[San Francisco Bay Area]] <br> [[Central Coast (California)|Central Coast]] <br> United States |
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|location = {{coord|37.75|-122.55|display=inline,title}}<ref name=lomax/> |
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|type = [[Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults|Strike-slip]]<ref name=Segall/> |
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|tsunami = Yes<ref name=Geist/> |
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|casualties = 700–3,000+<ref name=Casualties/> |
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}} |
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The '''1906 San Francisco earthquake''' struck the coast of [[Northern California]] at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18 with an estimated [[Moment magnitude scale|moment magnitude]] of 7.9 and a maximum [[Mercalli intensity scale|Mercalli intensity]] of XI (''Extreme''). High intensity shaking was felt from [[Eureka, California|Eureka]] on the [[North Coast (California)|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. Thousands of homes were dismantled. As a result, up to 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 [[List of disasters in the United States by death toll|deadliest earthquakes 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 disasters. |
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==Tectonic setting== |
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The [[San Andreas Fault]] is a continental [[transform fault]] that forms part of the tectonic boundary between the [[Pacific Plate]] and the [[North American Plate]].<ref name=Segall/> The [[Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults|strike-slip]] fault is characterized by mainly lateral motion in a [[Sinistral and dextral|dextral]] sense, where the western (Pacific) plate moves northward relative to the eastern (North American) plate. This [[fault (geology)|fault]] runs the length of California from the [[Salton Sea]] in the south to [[Cape Mendocino]] in the north, a distance of about {{convert|810|mi|km}}. The maximum observed surface displacement was about 20 feet (6 m); [[geodesy|geodetic]] measurements show displacements of up to 28 feet (8.5 m).<ref>[https://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/offset.php 1906 San Francisco Quake: How large was the offset?] USGS Earthquake Hazards Program — Northern California. Accessed September 3, 2006</ref> |
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==Earthquake== |
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[[File:1906 Boatwright intensity.jpg|thumb|USGS ShakeMap showing the earthquake's intensity.]] |
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The 1906 earthquake preceded the development of the [[Richter magnitude scale]] by three decades. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the quake on the modern [[moment magnitude scale]] is 7.9;<ref name="BSL">{{Cite web|url=http://seismo.berkeley.edu/faq/1906_0.html|title=Where Can I Learn More About the 1906 Earthquake?|last=|first=|date=2008-01-28|website=[[Berkeley Seismological Laboratory]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327145305/http://seismo.berkeley.edu/faq/1906_0.html|archive-date=2008-03-27|dead-url=yes|access-date=}}</ref> values from 7.7 to as high as 8.3 have been proposed.<ref name=Thatcher>{{Cite journal|url = http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JB080i035p04862/full|title = Strain accumulation and release mechanism of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake|last = Thatcher|first = Wayne|date = 10 December 1975|journal = Journal of Geophysical Research|doi = 10.1029/JB080i035p04862|access-date = February 1, 2016|bibcode=1975JGR....80.4862T|volume=80|issue = 35|pages=4862–4872}}</ref> According to findings published in the [[Journal of Geophysical Research]], severe deformations in the earth's crust took place both before and after the earthquake's impact. Accumulated strain on the faults in the system was relieved during the earthquake, which is the supposed cause of the damage along the 450-kilometer-long segment of the San Andreas plate boundary.<ref name=Thatcher/> The 1906 rupture propagated both northward and southward for a total of {{convert|296|mi|km}}.<ref>[http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/info/1906/howlong.html 1906 Earthquake: How long was the 1906 Crack?] USGS Earthquake Hazards Program – Northern California, Accessed September 3, 2006</ref> Shaking was felt from [[Oregon]] to Los Angeles, and inland as far as central [[Nevada]].<ref name="Gibson">[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/4/2006_4_26.shtml Christine Gibson] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205074823/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/4/2006_4_26.shtml |date=December 5, 2010 }} "Our 10 Greatest Natural Disasters," ''American Heritage'', Aug./Sept. 2006.</ref> |
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A strong [[foreshock]] preceded the main shock by about 20 to 25 seconds. The strong shaking of the main shock lasted about 42 seconds. There were decades of minor earthquakes – more than at any other time in the historical record for northern California – before the 1906 quake. Widely interpreted previously as precursory activity to the 1906 earthquake, they have been found to have a strong seasonal pattern and have been postulated to be due to large seasonal sediment loads in coastal bays that overlie faults as a result of the erosion caused by [[hydraulic mining]] in the later years of the [[California Gold Rush]].<ref>[http://www.springerlink.com/content/qbbfcvjnjhcx0ggp/ Seasonal Seismicity of Northern California Before the Great 1906 Earthquake], (Journal) Pure and Applied Geophysics, ISSN 0033-4553 (Print) 1420-9136 (Online), volume 159, Numbers 1–3 / January, 2002, Pages 7–62.</ref> |
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For years, the epicenter of the quake was assumed to be near the town of [[Olema, California|Olema]], in the [[Point Reyes]] area of [[Marin County, California|Marin County]], because of evidence of the degree of local earth displacement. In the 1960s, a seismologist at [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]] proposed that the epicenter was more likely offshore of San Francisco, to the northwest of the [[Golden Gate]]. The most recent analyses support an offshore location for the epicenter, although significant uncertainty remains.<ref name=lomax/> An offshore epicenter is supported by the occurrence of a local [[tsunami]] recorded by a tide gauge at the [[San Francisco Presidio]]; the wave had an amplitude of approximately 3 in (8 cm) and an approximate period of 40{{ndash}}45 minutes.<ref>[http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/tsunami/1906.html Tsunami Record from the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake], United States Geological Survey, 2008</ref> |
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Analysis of triangulation data before and after the earthquake strongly suggest that the rupture along the San Andreas Fault was about 500 km in length, in agreement with observed intensity data. The available seismological data support a significantly shorter rupture length, but these observations can be reconciled by allowing propagation at speeds above the [[S-wave]] velocity ([[supershear earthquake|supershear]]). Supershear propagation has now been recognized for many earthquakes associated with strike-slip faulting.<ref name="Song_etal_2008">{{Cite journal |last=Song S.G, |last2=Beroza G.C. |last3=Segall P. |title=A Unified Source Model for the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake |url=https://pangea.stanford.edu/cdfm/sites/default/files/pubs/song2008.pdf |journal=Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America |volume=98 |issue=2 |pages=823–831 |doi=10.1785/0120060402|year=2008 }}</ref> |
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===Impact=== |
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{{multiple image |
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| align = left |
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| image1 = SanFranHouses06.JPG |
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| image2 = Post-and-Grant-Avenue-Look.jpg |
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| footer = Damaged houses on Howard Street (left), and ruins in the vicinity of Post and Grant Avenue |
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}} |
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At the time, 375 deaths were reported;<ref>William Bronson, ''The Earth Shook, The Sky Burned'' (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996)</ref> however, hundreds of fatalities in [[Chinatown, San Francisco|Chinatown]] went ignored and unrecorded. The total number of deaths is still uncertain, but various reports presented a range of 700–3,000+.<ref>[https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/casualties.php Casualties and Damage after the 1906 earthquake] USGS Earthquake Hazards Program – Northern California, Accessed September 4, 2006</ref> Most of the deaths occurred in San Francisco itself, but 189 were reported elsewhere in the [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area]]; nearby cities, such as [[Santa Rosa, California|Santa Rosa]] and [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], also suffered severe damage. In [[Monterey County]], the earthquake permanently shifted the course of the [[Salinas River (California)|Salinas River]] near its mouth. Where previously the river emptied into Monterey Bay between [[Moss Landing, California|Moss Landing]] and [[Watsonville, California|Watsonville]], it was diverted 6 miles south to a new channel just north of [[Marina, California|Marina]]. |
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Between 227,000 and 300,000 people were left homeless out of a population of about 410,000; half of those who evacuated fled across the bay to [[Oakland, California|Oakland]] and [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]. Newspapers described [[Golden Gate Park]], the [[Presidio of San Francisco|Presidio]], [[Panhandle (San Francisco)|the Panhandle]] and the beaches between [[Ingleside (San Francisco)|Ingleside]] and [[North Beach, San Francisco, California|North Beach]] as covered with makeshift tents. More than two years later, many of these refugee camps were still in operation.<ref>Displays at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Museum in Sausalito, California</ref> |
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{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; text-align: center; font-size:90%;" |
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|- |
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| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Selected Mercalli intensities |
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|- |
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! [[Mercalli intensity scale|MMI]] !! Locations |
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|- |
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| XI (''Extreme'') |
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| [[San Francisco]], [[Santa Rosa, California|Santa Rosa]] |
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|- |
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| X (''Extreme'') |
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| [[Sebastopol, California|Sebastopol]], [[San Bruno, California|San Bruno]] |
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|- |
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| IX (''Violent'') |
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| [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], [[Point Arena, California|Point Arena]] |
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|- |
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| VIII (''Severe'') |
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| [[Eureka, California|Eureka]], [[Salinas, California|Salinas]] |
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|- |
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| VII (''Very strong'') |
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| [[Truckee, California|Truckee]], [[Parkfield, California|Parkfield]] |
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|- |
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| VI (''Strong'') |
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| [[Willows, California|Willows]], [[Fresno, California|Fresno]] |
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|- |
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| V (''Moderate'') |
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| [[Chico, California|Chico]], [[Paso Robles, California|Paso Robles]] |
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|- |
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| IV (''Light'') |
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| [[Dunsmuir, California|Dunsmuir]], [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]] |
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|- |
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| III (''Weak'') |
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| [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]], [[Indio, California|Indio]] |
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|- |
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| colspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | <small><span class="plainlinks">[http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/intintro.shtml U.S. Earthquake Intensity Database, NGDC]</span></small> |
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|} |
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The earthquake and fire left long-standing and significant pressures on the development of California. At the time of the disaster, San Francisco had been the ninth-largest city in the United States and the largest on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]], with a population of about 410,000. Over a period of 60 years, the city had become the financial, trade and cultural center of the [[Western United States|West]]; operated the busiest port on the West Coast; and was the "gateway to the Pacific", through which growing U.S. economic and military power was projected into the Pacific and Asia. Over 80% of the city was destroyed by the earthquake and fire. Though San Francisco rebuilt quickly, the disaster diverted trade, industry and population growth south to Los Angeles, which during the 20th century became the largest and most important urban area in the West. Many of the city's leading poets and writers retreated to [[Carmel-by-the-Sea]] where, as "The Barness", they established the arts colony reputation that continues today. |
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The 1908 Lawson Report, a study of the 1906 quake led and edited by Professor Andrew Lawson of the University of California, showed that the same [[San Andreas Fault]] which had caused the disaster in San Francisco ran close to Los Angeles as well. The earthquake was the first natural disaster of its magnitude to be documented by photography and motion picture footage and occurred at a time when the science of [[seismology]] was blossoming. |
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===Intensity=== |
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The most important characteristic of the shaking intensity noted in [[Andrew Lawson]]'s (1908) report was the clear [[correlation]] of intensity with underlying geologic conditions. Areas situated in [[sediment]]-filled valleys sustained stronger shaking than nearby bedrock sites, and the strongest shaking occurred in areas of former bay where [[soil liquefaction]] had occurred. Modern seismic-zonation practice accounts for the differences in seismic hazard posed by varying geologic conditions.<ref>[http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/shzp/Pages/article10.aspx California Geological Survey – Seismic Hazards Zonation Program – Seismic Hazards Mapping regulations]</ref> The shaking intensity as described on the [[Mercalli intensity scale|Modified Mercalli intensity scale]] reached XI (''Extreme'') in San Francisco and areas to the north like Santa Rosa where destruction was devastating. |
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===Damage=== |
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Although the impact of the earthquake on San Francisco was the most famous, the earthquake also inflicted considerable damage on several other cities. These include San Jose and [[Santa Rosa, California|Santa Rosa]], the entire downtown of which was essentially destroyed.<ref>[http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb809nb5z5/?order=2&brand=eqf "A Dreadful Catastrophe Visits Santa Rosa"] ''Press Democrat'', Santa Rosa, California, 19 April 1906, accessed 23 Feb. 2015.</ref><ref>[http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb6000084t/?&query=santa%20rosa&query-join=or&brand=eqf Sta. Rosa [i.e. Santa Rosa] Courthouse]</ref><ref>[http://content.cdlib.org/search?brand=eqf&style=eqf&text-join=or&fieldList=text+keywords&relation=bancroft.berkeley.edu+collections+earthquakeandfire&keyword=santa+rosa&publisher= The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire]</ref> |
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==Fires== |
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{{Anchor|Subsequent fires}} |
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[[File:San Francisco Fire Sacramento Street 1906-04-18.jpg|thumb|Arnold Genthe's [[Looking Down Sacramento Street, San Francisco, April 18, 1906|photograph]], looking toward the fire on Sacramento Street]] |
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As damaging as the earthquake and its aftershocks were, the fires that burned out of control afterward were even more destructive.<ref>{{cite news |title=Over 500 Dead, $200,000,000 Lost in San Francisco Earthquake |url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0418.html#article |quote=Earthquake and fire today have put nearly half of San Francisco in ruins. About 500 persons have been killed, a thousand injured, and the property loss will exceed $200,000,000. |work=The New York Times |date=April 18, 1906 |accessdate=April 19, 2008 }}</ref> It has been estimated that up to 90% of the total destruction was the result of the subsequent fires.<ref>[http://www.1906eqconf.org/plenarySessions.htm Stephen Sobriner, What really happened in San Francisco in the earthquake of 1906. 100th Anniversary 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Conference, 2006]</ref> Within three days,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mceer.buffalo.edu/1906_Earthquake/san-francisco-earthquake.asp|title=The Great 1906 Earthquake & Fires of San Francisco}}</ref> over 30 fires, caused by ruptured gas mains, destroyed approximately 25,000 buildings on 490 city blocks. One of the largest of these fires was accidentally started in a house on Hayes Street by a woman making breakfast for her family. This came to be known as the "Ham and Eggs Fire". Some were started when [[San Francisco Fire Department|firefighters]], untrained in the use of [[dynamite]], attempted to demolish buildings to create [[firebreak]]s. The dynamited buildings themselves often caught fire. The city's fire chief, [[Dennis T. Sullivan]], who would have been responsible, had died from injuries sustained in the initial quake.<ref>{{cite book|title=Fire Following Earthquake|year=2005|publisher=ASCE, NFPA|location=Reston, Virginia|isbn=9780784407394|url=http://www.asce.org/Product.aspx?id=2147485909&productid=5362|editor1=Charles Scawthorn|editor2=John Eidinger|editor3=Anshel Schiff|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928111244/http://www.asce.org/Product.aspx?id=2147485909&productid=5362|archivedate=September 28, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In all, the fires burned for four days and nights. |
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Due to a widespread practice by [[insurance|insurers]] to indemnify San Francisco properties from fire, but not earthquake damage, most of the destruction in the city was blamed on the fires. Some property owners deliberately set fire to damaged properties, in order to claim them on their insurance. Capt. Leonard D. Wildman of the [[United States Army Signal Corps|U.S. Army Signal Corps]]<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/archive/prsf/history/1906eq/sigcorps.htm NPS Signal Corps History]</ref> reported that he "was stopped by a fireman who told me that people in that neighborhood were firing their houses…they were told that they would not get their insurance on buildings damaged by the earthquake unless they were damaged by fire".<ref name="sfmuseum">[http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906.2/arson.html San Francisco Museum]</ref> |
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{{multiple image |
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| align = left |
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| image1 = Sfearthquake3b.jpg |
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| image2 = 1907 Geological Survey Map of San Francisco after 1906 Earthquake - Geographicus - SanFrancisco-humphrey-1907.jpg |
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| footer =Burning of the [[Mission District, San Francisco|Mission District]] (left) and a map showing the extent of the fire |
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}} |
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One landmark building lost in the fire was the [[Palace Hotel, San Francisco|Palace Hotel]], subsequently rebuilt, which had many famous visitors, including royalty and celebrated performers. It was constructed in 1875 primarily financed by Bank of California co-founder [[William Ralston]], the "man who built San Francisco". In April 1906, the tenor [[Enrico Caruso]] and members of the [[Metropolitan Opera Company]] came to San Francisco to give a series of performances at the [[Grand Opera House (San Francisco)|Grand Opera House]]. The night after Caruso's performance in ''[[Carmen]]'', the tenor was awakened in the early morning in his Palace Hotel suite by a strong jolt. Clutching an autographed photo of President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], Caruso made an effort to get out of the city, first by boat and then by train, and vowed never to return to San Francisco. Caruso died in 1921, having remained true to his word. The Metropolitan Opera Company lost all of its traveling sets and costumes in the earthquake and ensuing fires.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/04/27/101878127.pdf NY Times Obituary for Heinrich Conrad, April 27, 1909]</ref> |
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{{listen |
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| filename = The Story of An Eyewitness by Jack London - read by Elaine Hamby for LibriVox's Short Nonfiction Collection Vol. 006 (2007).ogg |
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| title = <center>"The Story of An Eyewitness"<br>by Jack London<br><small>Read by Elaine Hamby for LibriVox</small></center> |
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| description = <center>Audio 00:18:06 ([https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.502969/2015.502969.A-Rreasury#page/n303/mode/2up full text])</center> |
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| pos = right |
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| type = speech |
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| image = [[File:His Master's Voice (small).png|70px]] |
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}} |
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Some of the greatest losses from fire were in scientific [[laboratory|laboratories]]. [[Alice Eastwood]], the curator of [[botany]] at the [[California Academy of Sciences]] in San Francisco, is credited with saving nearly 1,500 specimens, including the entire type specimen collection for a newly discovered and extremely rare species, before the remainder of the largest botanical collection in the western United States was destroyed in the fire.<ref>Alice Eastwood, ''The Coniferae of the Santa Lucia Mountains''</ref><ref>Double Cone Quarterly, Fall Equinox, volume VII, Number 3 (2004)</ref> The entire laboratory and all the records of [[Benjamin R. Jacobs]], a [[biochemistry|biochemist]] who was researching the nutrition of everyday foods, were destroyed.<ref>[http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/iechad/1920/12/i09/f-pdf/f_ie50129a023.pdf The Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry]</ref> The original California flag used in the 1846 [[Bear Flag Revolt]] at [[Sonoma, California|Sonoma]], which at the time was being stored in a state building in San Francisco, was also destroyed in the fire.<ref>[http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/toddflag.html The Bear Flag, The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco]</ref> |
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The fire following the earthquake in San Francisco, cost an estimated $350 million at the time, equivalent to $8.97 billion. The devastating quake levelled about 80% of the city.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Guinness World Records 2014|last=Glenday|first=Craig|publisher=|year=2013|isbn=9781908843159|location=|pages=17|quote=|via=}}</ref>{{Clear}} |
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==Response== |
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The city's fire chief, Dennis T. Sullivan, was gravely injured when the earthquake first struck and later died from his injuries. The interim fire chief sent an urgent request to the [[Presidio of San Francisco|Presidio]], an army post on the edge of the stricken city, for dynamite. General [[Frederick Funston]] had already decided that the situation required the use of troops. Telephoning a policeman, he sent word to Mayor [[Eugene Schmitz]] of his decision to assist, and then ordered army troops from nearby [[Angel Island, California|Angel Island]] to mobilize and come into the city. Explosives were ferried across the bay from the California Powder Works in what is now [[Hercules, California|Hercules]]. |
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[[File: Soldiers looting 1906 fire.jpg|thumb|left|Soldiers looting during the fire]] |
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During the first few days, soldiers provided valuable services like patrolling streets to discourage looting and guarding buildings such as the [[San Francisco Mint|U.S. Mint]], post office, and county jail. They aided the fire department in dynamiting to demolish buildings in the path of the fires. The army also became responsible for feeding, sheltering, and clothing the tens of thousands of displaced residents of the city. Under the command of Funston's superior, Major General [[Adolphus Greely]], Commanding Officer, Pacific Division, over 4,000 troops saw service during the emergency. On July 1, 1906, civil authorities assumed responsibility for relief efforts, and the army withdrew from the city. |
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On April 18, in response to riots among evacuees and looting, Mayor Schmitz issued and ordered posted a proclamation that "The Federal Troops, the members of the Regular [[San Francisco Police Department|Police Force]] and all Special Police Officers have been authorized by me to kill any and all persons found engaged in Looting or in the Commission of Any Other Crime".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906.2/killproc.html |title=Mayor Eugene Schmitz's Famed "Shoot-to-Kill" Order |publisher=Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco |accessdate=September 3, 2006 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823093603/http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906.2/killproc.html |archivedate=August 23, 2006 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref> In addition, accusations of soldiers themselves engaging in looting also surfaced.<ref name="sfmuseum.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906.2/wolfe.html |title=Looting Claims Against the U.S. Army Following the 1906 Earthquake |publisher=Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco |accessdate=March 26, 2008 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328150549/http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906.2/wolfe.html |archivedate=March 28, 2008 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref> |
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Early on April 18, 1906, recently retired Captain [[Edward Otho Cresap Ord, II|Edward Ord]] of the [[22nd Infantry Regiment (United States)|22nd Infantry Regiment]] was appointed a Special Police Officer by Mayor Eugene Schmitz and liasioned with Major General Adolphus Greely for relief work with the 22nd Infantry and other military units involved in the emergency. Ord later wrote a long letter<ref name=Special>{{cite web|accessdate=October 7, 2009|url=http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/cl146.htm|title=Ord Family Papers|author=Variouswork=Georgetown University Libraries Special Collections|publisher=Georgetown University Library, 37th and N Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20057|year=2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614112237/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/cl146.htm|archive-date=June 14, 2010|dead-url=yes|df=mdy-all}}</ref> to his mother on the April 20 regarding Schmitz' "Shoot-to-Kill" Order and some "despicable" behavior of certain soldiers of the 22nd Infantry who were looting. He also made it clear that the majority of soldiers served the community well.<ref name="sfmuseum.org"/>{{clear}} |
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==Aftermath== |
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[[File:San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, (People) leaving the city - NARA - 522958.tif|thumb|Refugees leaving the city]] |
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Property losses from the disaster have been estimated to be more than $400 million in 1906 dollars.<ref name=Casualties>{{citation|title=Casualties and damage after the 1906 Earthquake|author=USGS|url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/casualties.php|publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]}}</ref> This is equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|400000000|1906}}}} in {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}-1}} dollars. An insurance industry source tallies insured losses at $235 million, the equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|235000000|1906}}}} in {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}-1}} dollars.{{Inflation-fn|US}}<ref>Brady, Matt. "1906 Quake Shook Up Insurance Industry Worldwide." National Underwriter/P&C [New York] 18 April 2006: 12–16. Print.</ref> |
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Political and business leaders strongly downplayed the effects of the earthquake, fearing loss of outside investment in the city which badly needed to rebuild.<ref>"The Great San Francisco Earthquake & Fires of 1906." The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.</ref> In his first public statement, California governor [[George Pardee]] emphasized the need to rebuild quickly: "This is not the first time that San Francisco has been destroyed by fire, I have not the slightest doubt that the City by the Golden Gate will be speedily rebuilt, and will, almost before we know it, resume her former great activity".<ref>[http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/1906/06nsfmart.htm San Francisco History] The New San Francisco Magazine May 1906</ref> The earthquake itself is not even mentioned in the statement. Fatality and monetary damage estimates were manipulated.<ref>[http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9539/9539.ch01.html ''The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609071907/http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9539/9539.ch01.html |date=June 9, 2007 }} Philip L. Fradkin</ref> |
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Almost immediately after the quake (and even during the disaster), planning and reconstruction plans were hatched to quickly rebuild the city. Rebuilding funds were immediately tied up by the fact that virtually all the major banks had been sites of the conflagration, requiring a lengthy wait of seven-to-ten days before their fire-proof vaults could cool sufficiently to be safely opened. The Bank of Italy had evacuated its funds and was able to provide liquidity in the immediate aftermath. Its president also immediately chartered and financed the sending of two ships to return with shiploads of lumber from Washington and Oregon mills which provided the initial reconstruction materials and surge. In 1929, Bank of Italy was renamed and is now known as [[Bank of America]]. |
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[[William James]], the pioneering American psychologist, was teaching at Stanford at the time of the earthquake and traveled into San Francisco to observe first-hand its aftermath. He was most impressed by the positive attitude of the survivors and the speed with which they improvised services and created order out of chaos.<ref>{{Cite news | title= The Myth of the Panicking Disaster Victim | author=Johann Hari | date = March 18, 2011 | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-myth-of-the-panicking_b_837440.html?ir=Impact | accessdate =April 3, 2011 |work=Huffington Post}}</ref> This formed the basis of the chapter "On some Mental Effects of the Earthquake" in his book ''Memories and Studies''.<ref name="James1911">{{cite book|author=William James|title=Memories and studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yooTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA209|accessdate=April 3, 2011|year=1911|publisher=Longmans, Green|pages=209–}}</ref> |
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[[H. G. Wells]] had just arrived in New York on his first visit to America when he learned, at lunch, of the San Francisco earthquake. What struck him about the reaction of those around him was that "it does not seem to have affected any one with a sense of final destruction, with any foreboding of irreparable disaster. Every one is talking of it this afternoon, and no one is in the least degree dismayed. I have talked and listened in two clubs, watched people in cars and in the street, and one man is glad that Chinatown will be cleared out for good; another's chief solicitude is for [[Jean-François Millet|Millet]]'s 'Man with the Hoe.' 'They'll cut it out of the frame,' he says, a little anxiously. 'Sure.' But there is no doubt anywhere that San Francisco can be rebuilt, larger, better, and soon. Just as there would be none at all if all this New York that has so obsessed me with its limitless bigness was itself a blazing ruin. I believe these people would more than half like the situation."<ref>H. G. Wells, ''The Future in America: A Search after Realities'' (New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1906), pp. 41–42.</ref> |
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[[File:Sfearthquake.jpg|thumb|left|View from the [[San Francisco Ferry Building|Ferry Building]] tower, southwest down on Market Street]] |
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[[File:Agassiz statue.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Louis Agassiz|Agassiz]] statue in front of the Zoology building (now building 420), [[Stanford University]].]] |
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The earthquake was crucial in the development of the [[University of California, San Francisco]] and its medical facilities. Until 1906, the school faculty had provided care at the City-County Hospital ([[San Francisco General Hospital]], 1915–2016, but ''Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH)'' since 2016), but did not have a hospital of its own. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, more than 40,000 people were relocated to a makeshift tent city in Golden Gate Park and were treated by the faculty of the Affiliated Colleges. This brought the school, which until then was located on the western outskirts of the city, in contact with significant population and fueled the commitment of the school towards civic responsibility and health care, increasing the momentum towards the construction of its own health facilities. Finally, in April 1907, one of the buildings was renovated for outpatient care with 75 beds. This created the need to train nursing students, and, in 1907, the ''[[UCSF School of Nursing|UC Training School for Nurses]]'' was established, adding a fourth professional school to the Affiliated Colleges. |
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The grandeur of citywide reconstruction schemes required investment from Eastern monetary sources, hence the spin and de-emphasis of the earthquake, the promulgation of the tough new building codes, and subsequent reputation sensitive actions such as the official low death toll. One of the more famous and ambitious plans came from famed urban planner [[Daniel Burnham]]. His bold plan called for, among other proposals, [[Baron Haussmann|Haussmann]]-style avenues, boulevards, [[arterial thoroughfare]]s that radiated across the city, a massive civic center complex with classical structures, and what would have been the largest urban park in the world, stretching from [[Twin Peaks (San Francisco, California)|Twin Peaks]] to [[Lake Merced]] with a large [[wikt:athenaeum|atheneum]] at its peak. But this plan was dismissed during the aftermath of the earthquake. |
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For example, real estate investors and other land owners were against the idea due to the large amount of land the city would have to purchase to realize such proposals.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Blackford|first1=Mansel|title=The Lost Dream: Business and City Planning on the Pacific Coast, 1890–1920|date=1993|publisher=Ohio State UP|location=Columbus|isbn=0-8142-0589-5|page=51}}</ref> City fathers likewise attempted at the time to eliminate the Chinese population and export [[Chinatown, San Francisco, California|Chinatown]] (and other poor populations) to the edge of the county where the Chinese could still contribute to the local taxbase.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hansen|first1=Gladys|authorlink1=Gladys Hansen|title=Relocation of Chinatown Following the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/chin/relocate.html|website=The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco|publisher=Museum of the City of San Francisco|accessdate=14 February 2015|date=March 2014}}</ref> The Chinese occupants had other ideas and prevailed instead. Chinatown was rebuilt in the newer, modern, Western form that exists today. The destruction of [[San Francisco City Hall|City Hall]] and the Hall of Records enabled thousands of Chinese immigrants to claim residency and citizenship, creating a backdoor to the [[Chinese Exclusion Act (United States)|Chinese Exclusion Act]], and [[Asian American#Immigration trends|bring in their relatives from China]].<ref>[http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=ies Christoph Strupp, ''Dealing with Disaster: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906'']</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060414021037/http://www.chsa.org/publications/docs/1906quakeFAQ.pdf Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906: Its Effects on Chinatown] Chinese Historical Society of America, Accessed December 2, 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history/3038306.html?page=5&c=y The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930210023/http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history/3038306.html?page=5&c=y |date=September 30, 2007 }} Niderost, Eric, ''American History'', April 2006, Accessed December 2, 2006</ref> |
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While the original street grid was restored, many of Burnham's proposals inadvertently saw the light of day, such as a [[Neoclassical architecture|neoclassical]] civic center complex, wider streets, a preference of arterial thoroughfares, a [[Market Street Subway|subway under Market Street]], a more people-friendly [[Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco|Fisherman's Wharf]], and a monument to the city on [[Telegraph Hill, San Francisco|Telegraph Hill]], [[Coit Tower]]. |
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The earthquake was also responsible for the development of the [[Pacific Heights, San Francisco, California|Pacific Heights]] neighborhood. The immense power of the earthquake had destroyed almost all of the mansions on [[Nob Hill, San Francisco, California|Nob Hill]] except for the [[James C. Flood Mansion]]. Others that hadn't been destroyed were dynamited by the Army forces aiding the firefighting efforts in attempts to create firebreaks. As one indirect result, the wealthy looked westward where the land was cheap and relatively undeveloped, and where there were better views and a consistently warmer climate. Constructing new mansions without reclaiming and clearing old rubble simply sped attaining new homes in the tent city during the reconstruction.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} |
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Reconstruction was swift, and largely completed by 1915, in time for the [[Panama–Pacific International Exposition|1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition]] which celebrated the reconstruction of the city and its "rise from the ashes". |
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Since 1915, the city has officially commemorated the disaster each year by gathering the remaining survivors at [[Lotta's Fountain]], a fountain in the city's [[Financial District (San Francisco)|financial district]] that served as a meeting point during the disaster for people to look for loved ones and exchange information. |
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===Housing=== |
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[[File:Row of shacks, 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.jpg|thumb|One of the eleven housing camps]] |
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The army built 5,610 [[Sequoia sempervirens|redwood]] and [[fir]] "relief houses" to accommodate 20,000 displaced people. The houses were designed by [[John McLaren (park superintendent)|John McLaren]], and were grouped in eleven camps, packed close to each other and rented to people for two dollars per month until rebuilding was completed. They were painted navy blue, partly to blend in with the site, and partly because the military had large quantities of navy blue paint on hand. The camps had a peak population of 16,448 people, but by 1907 most people had moved out. The camps were then re-used as garages, storage spaces or shops. The cottages cost on average $100 to put up. The $2 monthly rents went towards the full purchase price of $50. Most of the shacks have been destroyed, but a small number survived. One of the modest {{convert|720|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} homes was purchased in 2006 for more than $600,000.<ref>[http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20060418_quakehistory.htm Reality Times:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428180408/http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20060418_quakehistory.htm |date=April 28, 2007 }} ''1906 San Francisco Earthquake Housing Is Valuable Piece Of History'' by Blanche Evans</ref> The last official refugee camp was closed on June 30, 1908.<ref>Fradkin, Philip L. The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself. Berkeley: University of California, 2005. Print. p.225</ref> |
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A 2017 study found that the fire had the effect of increasing the share of land used for nonresidential purposes: "Overall, relative to unburned blocks, residential land shares on burned blocks fell while nonresidential land shares rose by 1931. The study also provides insight into what held the city back from making these changes before 1906: the presence of old residential buildings. In reconstruction, developers built relatively fewer of these buildings, and the majority of the reduction came through single-family houses. Also, aside from merely expanding nonresidential uses in many neighborhoods, the fire created economic opportunities in new areas, resulting in clusters of business activity that emerged only in the wake of the disaster. These effects of the fire still remain today, and thus large shocks can be sufficient catalysts for permanently reshaping urban settings."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Siodla|first=James|title=Clean slate: Land-use changes in San Francisco after the 1906 disaster|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001449831730089X|journal=Explorations in Economic History|volume=65|page=1|doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2017.04.001|year=2017}}</ref> |
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===Relief=== |
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During the first few days after news of the disaster reached the rest of the world, relief efforts reached over $5,000,000.<ref name="Morris 2002">Morris, Charles ed. ''The San Francisco Calamity by Earthquake and Fire''. Intro by Roger W. Lotchin. Philadelphia : J.C. Winston Co., 1906; Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2002.</ref> London raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. Individual citizens and businesses donated large sums of money for the relief effort: [[Standard Oil]] gave $100,000; [[Andrew Carnegie]] gave $100,000; the Dominion of Canada made a special appropriation of $100,000 and even the [[Bank of Canada]] in Ottawa gave $25,000.<ref name="Morris 2002"/> The U.S. government quickly voted for one million dollars in relief supplies which were immediately rushed to the area, including supplies for food kitchens and many thousands of tents that city dwellers would occupy the next several years.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Strupp|first1=Christoph|title=Dealing with Disaster: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gd2v192|website=escholarship.org|publisher=Institute of European Studies|accessdate=23 February 2015}}</ref> These relief efforts were not enough to get families on their feet again, and consequently the burden was placed on wealthier members of the city, who were reluctant to assist in the rebuilding of homes they were not responsible for. All residents were eligible for daily meals served from a number of communal soup kitchens and citizens as far away as Idaho and Utah were known to send daily loaves of bread to San Francisco as relief supplies were coordinated by the railroads.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Greeley|first1=A.W|title=Earthquake in California|date=April 18, 1906|publisher=Washington Government Print Office}}</ref> |
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===Insurance payments=== |
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Insurance companies, faced with staggering claims of $250 million,<ref>The ''New York Herald'' (European Edition) of April 21, 1906, p. 2.</ref> paid out between $235 million and $265 million on policyholders' claims, often for fire damage only, since shake damage from earthquakes was excluded from coverage under most policies.<ref>R. K. Mackenzie, ''The San Francisco earthquake & conflagration''. Typoscript, Bancroft Library, Berkeley, 1907.</ref><ref name="ae">"[http://www.aetna.com/about/aetna/aag/history.html Aetna At-A-Glance: Aetna History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208010149/http://www.aetna.com/about/aetna/aag/history.html |date=December 8, 2006 }}", Aetna company information</ref> At least 137 insurance companies were directly involved and another 17 as reinsurers.<ref>For a list of these companies see Tilmann Röder, ''From Industrial to Legal Standardization, 1871–1914: Transnational Insurance Law and the Great San Francisco Earthquake'' (Brill Academic Publishers, 2011).</ref> Twenty companies went bankrupt, and most excluded shake damage claims.<ref name="ae"/> [[Lloyd's of London]] reports having paid all claims in full, more than $50 million<ref>[http://www.lloyds.com/About_Us/History/A_city_rebuilt_a_promise_intact/Lloyds_role/ The role of Lloyd's in the reconstruction] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708195157/http://www.lloyds.com/About_Us/History/A_city_rebuilt_a_promise_intact/Lloyds_role/ |date=July 8, 2007 }} Lloyd's of London, Accessed December 6, 2006</ref> and the insurance companies in [[Hartford, Connecticut]] report also paying every claim in full, with the [[The Hartford|Hartford Fire Insurance Company]] paying over $11 million and [[Aetna Insurance Company]] almost $3 million.<ref name="ae"/> |
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After the 1906 earthquake, global discussion arose concerning a legally flawless exclusion of the earthquake hazard from fire insurance contracts. It was pressed ahead mainly by re-insurers. Their aim; a uniform solution to insurance payouts resulting from fires caused by earthquakes. Until 1910, a few countries, especially in Europe, followed the call for an exclusion of the earthquake hazard from all fire insurance contracts. In the U.S., the question was discussed differently. But the traumatized public reacted with fierce opposition. On August 1, 1909, the [[California Senate]] enacted the California Standard Form of Fire Insurance Policy, which did not contain any earthquake clause. Thus the state decided that insurers would have to pay again if another earthquake was followed by fires. Other earthquake-endangered countries followed the California example.<ref>[http://www.rewi.hu-berlin.de/FHI/articles/0610roeder.htm See T. Röder, ''From Industrial to Legal Standardization, 1871–1914: Transnational Insurance Law and the Great San Francisco Earthquake'' (Brill Academic Publishers, 2011) and ''The Roots of the "New Law Merchant": How the international standardization of contracts and clauses changed business law''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422193715/http://www.rewi.hu-berlin.de/FHI/articles/0610roeder.htm |date=April 22, 2008 }}</ref> The insurance payments heavily affected the international financial system. Gold transfers from European insurance companies to policyholders in San Francisco led to a rise in interest rates, subsequently to a lack of available loans and finally to the [[Knickerbocker Trust Company]] crisis of October 1907 which led to the [[Panic of 1907]].<ref>Kerry A. Odell and Marc D. Weidenmier, ''Real Shock, Monetary Aftershock: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and the Panic of 1907'', The Journal of Economic History, 2005, vol. 64, issue 04, p. 1002–1027.</ref> |
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==Centennial commemorations== |
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The 1906 Centennial Alliance<ref>[http://1906centennial.org/ 1906 Centennial Alliance]</ref> was set up as a clearing-house for various centennial events commemorating the earthquake. Award presentations, religious services, a National Geographic TV movie,<ref>[http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/greatquake/ National Geographic TV movie] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060415105554/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/greatquake/ |date=April 15, 2006 }}</ref> a projection of fire onto the Coit Tower,<ref>[http://www.sfcentennial.org/ projection of fire onto the Coit Tower] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.is/20060111190739/http://www.sfcentennial.org/ |date=January 11, 2006 }}</ref> memorials, and lectures were part of the commemorations. The [[USGS]] [[Earthquake Hazards Program]] issued a series of Internet documents,<ref>[https://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/ series of Internet documents]</ref> and the tourism industry promoted the 100th anniversary as well.<ref>[http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/travel_earthquake.html 100th anniversary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060426050332/http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/travel_earthquake.html |date=April 26, 2006 }}</ref> |
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Eleven survivors of the 1906 earthquake attended the centennial commemorations in 2006, including Irma Mae Weule (May 11, 1899 – August 8, 2008),<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://genealogy.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=genealogy&cdn=parenting&tm=16&f=00&tt=2&bt=6&bts=27&zu=http://www.mocavo.com/records/ssdi|title=Security Alert:|publisher=genealogy.about.com|accessdate=July 6, 2014}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> who was the oldest survivor of the quake at the time of her death in August 2008, aged 109.<ref name=sfgate>{{cite news|last=Nolte |title=1906 earthquake survivor Irma Mae Weule dies |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/15/BAQ712C258.DTL |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=August 16, 2008 |accessdate=August 17, 2008 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920125913/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2008%2F08%2F15%2FBAQ712C258.DTL |archivedate=September 20, 2008 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> Vivian Illing (December 25, 1900 – January 22, 2009) was believed to be the second-oldest survivor at the time of her death, aged 108, leaving Herbert Hamrol (January 10, 1903 – February 4, 2009) as the last known remaining survivor at the time of his death, aged 106. Another survivor, Libera Armstrong (September 28, 1902 – November 27, 2007), attended the 2006 anniversary, but died in 2007, aged 105.<ref name="ancientfaces">{{cite web|url=http://www.ancientfaces.com/person/libera-era-armstrong/85594268|title=Libera Era Armstrong (1902–2007) – Hayward, California|publisher=ancientfaces.com|accessdate=July 6, 2014}}</ref> |
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Shortly after Hamrol's death, two additional survivors were discovered. William Del Monte, then 103, and Jeanette Scola Trapani (April 21, 1902 – December 28, 2009),<ref name=jstobit>{{cite news |title=Jeanette Trapani obituary |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=137997169|date=December 31, 2009 |accessdate=January 2, 2010}}</ref> 106, stated that they stopped attending events commemorating the earthquake when it became too much trouble for them.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/06/BA2J15P6M7.DTL][[San Francisco Chronicle]]<span>, 2009-02-07, </span>''Calling any '06 San Francisco quake survivors''</ref> Del Monte and another survivor, Rose Cliver, then 106, attended the earthquake reunion celebration on April 18, 2009, the 103rd anniversary of the earthquake.<ref>{{cite news|title=SF remembers great quake on 103rd anniversary |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/18/state/n173741D72.DTL&type=printable |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5iQJf3VHY?url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2009%2F04%2F18%2Fstate%2Fn173741D72.DTL&type=printable |archivedate=July 21, 2009 |deadurl=no |accessdate=June 24, 2009 |df= }}</ref> Cliver (October 9, 1902 – February 18, 2012)<ref name="legacy">{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?pid=156036102|title=Rose Cliver Obituary: View Rose Cliver's Obituary by San Francisco Chronicle|publisher=legacy.com|accessdate=July 6, 2014}}</ref> died in February 2012, aged 109. Nancy Stoner Sage (February 19, 1905 – April 15, 2010) died, aged 105, in [[Colorado]] just three days short of the 104th anniversary of the earthquake on April 18, 2010. Del Monte attended the event at Lotta's Fountain on April 18, 2010 and the dinner at John's Restaurant the night before.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/18/BA2T1D0MII.DTL Carl Nolte, Hundreds gather to honor victims of '06 quake, ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (April 18, 2010)]</ref> 107-year-old George Quilici (April 26, 1905 – May 31, 2012) died in May 2012,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/santacruzsentinel/obituary.aspx?n=george-frank-quilici&pid=157938784|title=George Frank Quilici Obituary|last=|first=|date=|website=Santa Cruz Sentinel|access-date=}}</ref> and 113-year-old Ruth Newman (September 23, 1901 – July 29, 2015) in July 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/us/ruth-newman-a-survivor-of-the-1906-san-francisco-earthquake-dies-at-113.html|title=Ruth Newman, a Survivor of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Dies at 113|last=|first=|date=September 2, 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=|agency=Associated Press|language=|issn=}}</ref> William Del Monte (January 22, 1906 – January 11, 2016), who died 11 days shy of his 110th birthday, was thought to be the last survivor.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-01-11/last-survivor-of-1906-san-francisco-earthquake-dies-at-109|title=Last survivor of 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire dies at 109|last=Bender|first=Kristen J.|date=January 11, 2016|work=U.S. News and World Report|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706002050/https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-01-11/last-survivor-of-1906-san-francisco-earthquake-dies-at-109|archive-date=July 6, 2017|dead-url=no|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> |
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In 2005 the [[National Film Registry]] added ''[[San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Documentary April 18, 1906|San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906]]'', a newsreel documentary made soon after the earthquake, to its list of American films worthy of preservation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2005/05-262.html|date=December 20, 2005|accessdate=July 22, 2009| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090809003213/http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2005/05-262.html| archivedate=August 9, 2009| deadurl= no}}</ref> |
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==Panoramas== |
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{{wide image|San francisco fire 1906.jpg|1000px|San Francisco burning in 1906.}} |
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{{wide image|San Francisco 1906 fire 02 DA-SN-03-00958.JPEG|1000px|San Francisco fire 1906}} |
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{{wide image|Panorama of San Francisco disaster LCCN2007660415.tif|1000px|alt=A 360 degree panoramic view of damage across the city after the disaster in 1906. In the distance large buildings remain but local structures are reduced to piles of rubble, with some chimney stacks remaining.|San Francisco 360° panorama showing damage, 1906}} |
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{{Wide image|San Francisco 1906 earthquake Panoramic View.jpg|800px|Panoramic view of earthquake and fire damage from Stanford Mansion site, April 18–21, 1906. Note the ruins of the original [[San Francisco City Hall|City Hall]] building at far right.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/panabt.html Library of Congress P&P Online Catalog — Panoramic Photographs]</ref>}} |
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{{wide image|San Francisco in ruin edit2.jpg|1000px|"San Francisco in ruins from [[George R. Lawrence|Lawrence]] [[kite photography|Captive Airship]]{{snd}}2000 feet [660 m] above [[San Francisco Bay]]{{snd}}Overlooking waterfront.{{snd}}Sunset over Golden Gate." [[Market Street (San Francisco)|Market Street]] leads directly away from [[San Francisco Ferry Building|Ferry Building]] tower, center foreground.}} |
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==In popular culture== |
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*The movie ''[[Frisco Jenny]]'' depicts the earthquake. |
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*The 1936 movie ''[[San Francisco (1936 film)|San Francisco]]'' is based on the event. |
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*Rebuilding San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake destruction is a scenario in the [[SimCity (1989 video game)|Sim City]] videogame.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588657-simcity/faqs/20252?page=1|title=Scenarios|publisher=Gamefaqs|date=1989|accessdate=5 November 2016}}</ref> |
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*In Part 2 of the episode "[[Time's Arrow (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|Time's Arrow]]" of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', the crew of the ''U.S.S. Enterprise'' time-travels back to [[1893]], where Captain [[Jean-Luc Picard]] places a monitoring device in a hospital ward, claiming to a curious doctor that he's helping to make the building safer from earthquakes. The doctor scoffs that "there hasn't been an earthquake here in thirty years," referencing the "great" [[1868 Hayward earthquake|earthquake of October 21, 1868]], and unaware that the much more devastating 1906 earthquake is only 13 years in the future. |
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*In the [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney animated film]], ''[[Big Hero 6 (film)|Big Hero 6]]'', the fictional setting of "San Fransokyo" is intended to be San Francisco in an alternate timeline in which the city was rebuilt by [[Japanese people|Japanese]] immigrants following the earthquake, though the premise is never mentioned in the film.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Keegan|first1=Rebecca|title=San Fransokyo architects built a new world for Disney's Big Hero 6|url=http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/san-fransokyo-architects-built-a-new-world-for-disneys-big-hero-6/|accessdate=December 10, 2014|work=Los Angeles Times|publisher=Tribune Publishing Company|date=October 24, 2014}}</ref> |
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*In the William Carter puzzles of the ''[[Don't Starve]]'' videogame, it is suggested that the earthquake was triggered by the dark powers of Codex Umbra, a mysterious book.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dontstarvegame.com/science/mdocs/max/stage/1/grand-finale.html|title=Final Act|publisher=Klei Entertainment|accessdate=6 May 2018}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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{{Portal|San Francisco Bay Area|Disasters}} |
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* [[Arnold Genthe]] and [[George R. Lawrence]], photographers of the earthquake |
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* [[Committee of Fifty (1906)]] |
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* [[Earthquake engineering]] |
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* [[List of earthquakes in 1906]] |
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* [[List of earthquakes in California]] |
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* [[List of earthquakes in the United States]] |
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* [[List of disasters in the United States by death toll]] |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
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{{Reflist|30em|refs= |
{{Reflist|30em|refs= |
Revision as of 19:34, 24 October 2018
Notes
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References
- Double Cone Quarterly, Fall Equinox, volume VII, Number 3 (2004).
- American Society of Civil Engineers (1907). Transactions. Paper No. 1056. The Effects Of The San Francisco Earthquake of April 18th, 1906, on Engineering Constructions: Reports Of A General Committee And Of Six Special Committees Of The San Francisco Association Of Members Of The American Society Of Civil Engineers. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Greely, Adolphus W. (1906). Earthquake In California, April 18, 1906. Special Report On The Relief Operations Conducted By The Military Authorities. Washington: Government Printing Office. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Gilbert, Grove Karl; Richard Lewis Humphrey; John Stephen Sewell; Frank Soule (1907). The San Francisco Earthquake And Fire of April 18th, 1906 And Their Effects On Structures And Structural Materials. Washington: Government Printing Office. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
{{cite book}}
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ignored (|name-list-style=
suggested) (help) - The San Francisco Earthquake And Fire: A Presentation of Facts And Resulting. New York: The Roebling Construction Company. 1906. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Jordan, David Starr; John Casper Branner; Charles Derleth Jr.; Stephen Taber; F. Omari; Harold W. Fairbanks; Mary Hunter Austin (1907). The California Earthquake of 1906. San Francisco: A. M. Robertson. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Mining And Scientific Press; T. A. Rickard; G. K. Gilbert; S. B. Christy; et al. (1907). After Earthquake And Fire: A Reprint Of The Articles And Editorial Comment Appearing In The Mining And Scientific Press. San Francisco: Mining And Scientific Press. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Russell Sage Foundation; Charles J. O'Connor; Francis H. McLean; Helen Swett Artieda; James Marvin Motley; Jessica Peixotto; Mary Roberts Coolidge (1907). San Francisco Relief Survey: The Organization And Methods Of Relief Used After The Earthquake And Fire Of April 18, 1906. Survey Associates, Inc. (New York), Wm. F. Fell Co. (Philadelphia). Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Schussler, Hermann (1907). The Water Supply Of San Francisco, California Before, During And After The Earthquake of April 18, 1906 And The Subsequent Conflagration. New York: Martin B. Brown Press. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Tyler, Sydney; Harry Fielding Reid (1908). The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906: Report Of The State Earthquake Investigation Commission. Volume one. Washington, D.C.: The Carnegie Institution of Washington.
- Tyler, Sydney; Harry Fielding Reid (1910). The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906: Report Of The State Earthquake Investigation Commission. Volume two. Washington, D.C.: The Carnegie Institution of Washington.
- Wald, David J.; Kanamori, Hiroo; Helmberger, Donald V.; Heaton, Thomas H. (1993), "Source study of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake", Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 83 (4), Seismological Society of America: 981–1019, archived from the original on January 9, 2009
{{citation}}
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - Winchester, Simon, A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2005. ISBN 0-06-057199-3
- Bronson, William (1959). The Earth Shook, the Sky Burned. Doubleday.
- Contemporary disaster accounts
- Aitken, Frank W.; Edward Hilton (1906). A History Of The Earthquake And Fire In San Francisco. San Francisco: The Edward Hilton Co. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Banks, Charles Eugene; Opie Percival Read (1906). The History Of The San Francisco Disaster And Mount Vesuvius Horror. C. E. Thomas. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Givens, John David; Opie Percival Read (1906). San Francisco In Ruins: A Pictorial History. San Francisco: Leon C. Osteyee. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Keeler, Charles (1906). San Francisco Through Earthquake And Fire. San Francisco: Paul Elder And Company. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- London, Jack. "The Story of An Eyewitness". London's report from the scene. Originally published in Collier's Magazine, May 5, 1906.
- Morris, Charles (1906). The San Francisco Calamity By Earthquake And Fire. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- Tyler, Sydney; Ralph Stockman Tarr (1908). San Francisco's Great Disaster. Philadelphia: P. W. Ziegler Co. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- White, Trumbull; Richard Linthicum (1906). Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
- The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake – United States Geological Survey
- Template:Dmoz
- The 1906 Earthquake and Fire – National Archives
- Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early Films of San Francisco, 1897–1916 – American Memory at the Library of Congress
- A geologic tour of the San Francisco earthquake, 100 years later – American Geological Institute
- The Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire – Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco website
- The Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire – Bancroft Library
- Mark Twain and the San Francisco Earthquake – Shapell Manuscript Foundation
- Several videos of the aftermath – Internet Archive
- San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906
- Seismographs of the earthquake taken from the Lick Observatory from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections
- Timeline of the San Francisco Earthquake April 18 – 23, 1906 – The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
- JB Monaco Photography – Photographic account of earthquake and fire aftermath from well-known North Beach photographer
- Tsunami Record from the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake – USGS
- The International Seismological Centre has a bibliography and/or authoritative data for this event.