The greatest disaster in our nation's history. Thousands dead and even some pleading for someone to end their life. Buildings from one to five stories crumbling to the ground. Large pits, some five feet deep covering the scorched earth like craters on the moon. What is this horrific event? The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 that rocked our nation.
On April 18, 1906 an earthquake hit San Francisco for mere minutes. The earthquake registered 8.25 on the Richter scale (eyewitnesshistory). The damage from the earthquake paled in comparison to the level of destruction that followed. The quake cost 3,000 people their lives and not only rattled the residences of San Francisco, but people from Oregon to L.A and as far inland as Nevada(history.com).
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Thousands dead and even some pleading for someone to end their life. Buildings from one to five stories crumbling to the ground. Large pits, some five feet deep covering the scorched earth like craters on the moon. What is this horrific event? The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 that rocked our nation.
On April 18, 1906 an earthquake hit San Francisco for mere minutes. The earthquake registered 8.25 on the Richter scale (eyewitnesshistory). The damage from the earthquake paled in comparison to the level of destruction that followed. The quake cost 3,000 people their lives and not only rattled the residences of San Francisco, but people from Oregon to L.A and as far inland as Nevada(history.com). The quake ran down the San Andreas fault for 296 miles.The total damage estimation is $500,000,000 and very little of that is from the earthquake directly(history.com).
Much of the destruction originated from fire. Many small fires across San Francisco grew into very large fires that demolished the city. The fires obliterated 490 city blocks, a total of 25,000 buildings leaving over 250,000 homeless (eyewitnesshistory) and, websites are conflicted but estimate the loss of 450 to 3,000 lives. As the flames burned, many people started seeing buildings big and small, plummet to the ground and become swallowed by the fire. In the minds of the public the earthquake will be remembered by the fires that followed