A Comparison Of The San Francisco Earthquake Of 1906

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Although the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 were both horrific events that created huge destruction on the United States, they took a big toll in people’s lives in many different ways and encouraged them to take charge and rebuild back their hometowns that they loved. The San Francisco Earthquake commenced at five thirteen o’clock in the morning, with the epicenter offshore of San Francisco. The city carried more than 400,000 people during this event (Earthquake of 1906, 1). Most of the citizens who were present during the earthquake were all in bed asleep, but the early morning risers were able to witness the start of everything (The Great 1906, 5). The earthquakes intensity was measured at a magnitude of 7.9 on the present Richter scale (The Great 1906, 4). This earthquake was an extremely vigorous magnitude that would have killed approximately fifthteen hundred to forty five hundred people and injure fifty thousand (House, 51). This was not the first earthquake in San Francisco. 1864, 1898, and 1900 were years of earthquakes striking but not as strong as 1906 (San Francisco of 1906, 1). Ten million California residents who lived closely from the major fault lines could have been in endangered in many extreme ways. (House, 56). A tragic thing was that after the earthquake a multitudes of fire followed right after. The situation led to the water mains being destroyed and the firefighter being left with no water to settle the growing