1906- Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire

On the morning of April 18, 1906, the city of San Francisco was shaken to the very core by a phenomenally strong earthquake. It reduced many buildings to rubble and the fire caused by the ruptured gas lines continued to destroy 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.

At the end of the three day stretch of destruction, once firefighters and common citizens worked together to douse the flames, the city was forced to evaluate the damage. A total of 25,000 buildings were completely destroyed, with twice that number structurally damaged and requiring a great deal of time and money to rebuild and reconstruct. The damages topped over $350,000,000 in cost, a phenomenal price considering the turn of the century dollar rates. The city took many years to rebuild, with many businesses and homeowners abandoning their dreams to relocate and rebuild in an area considered safer.

The earthquake and the fires left more than 250,000 men, women, and children homeless. However, the silver lining was that these bleak times brought out the true human spirit, as citizens came together to welcome friends, family members, neighbors, and even strangers into buildings that were not destroyed during the devastation. The San Franciscans quickly began rebuilding their city and even created shelters for those left out in the cold.

The casualties in this horrible tragedy were around 450 to 700 in these three days. People recounted terrible tales for days as how they saw individuals being burning alive in the streets. Many children became orphans, and entire families fell prey to the tragedy. But the human spirit of the common citizens worked to lessen the scars of the tragedy and help the survivors.

The people of San Francisco remember this tragedy to this day. It is part of their history, and perhaps their courageous spirit is a result of those memories.

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