A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 1906 SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE.

By Derek Lynch

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco and the coast of northern California at 5:12A.M. on Wednesday, April 18 1906 it is eatimated that the magnitude of the earthquake 7.8; on the rechter scale however, other values have been stated from 7.7 to as high as 8.3. The epicenter happend offshore about two miles from the city, near Mussel Rock. It ruptured along the San Andreas Fault northward and southward for a length of 296 miles.the Shaking was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles, and inland as far as central Nevada. The earthquake and resulting fire is remembered as one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States. The death toll from the earthquake and resulting fire represents the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history. The economic impact has been compared with the more recent Hurricane Katrina disaster.

As stated above the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was caused by a rupture on the San Andreas Fault. This fault runs the length of California from the Slaton Sea in the south to Cape Mendocino to the north, a distance of about 800 miles. The earthquake ruptured the northern third of the fault for a distance of 296 miles. The biggest movement of land seen was about 20 feet however; the scientific measurements show movements of up to 28 feet.

A strong foreshock was felt a bout 20 to 25 seconds before the main shock. The strong shaking of the main shock lasted about 42 seconds. The shaking reached 8 on the Modified Marcella intensity scale at San Francisco and up to 9 in areas to the north like Santa Rosa where the destruction was almost complete.

before this there were decades of minor earthquakes - more than at any other time in the history of northern California - before the 1906 quake.

As damaging as the earthquake and its aftershocks were, the fires that burned out of control afterward were much more destructive. It has been thought that as much as 90% of the total destruction was a result from the fires witch occurred after, although this figure is likely to be overestimated. Due to the universal practice of insurers to protect San Francisco properties from fire but not earthquake damage, most damage within the city was blamed on the fires. It is probable, becouse of the size of the earthquake and the poor buildings standards of the time, that most of the buildings destroyed that day, were destroyed from the movement of the earth before going on fire. Fires broke out in many parts of town, some fueled by natural gas mains broken by the quake. Other fires were the result of arson and campfires set by evacuees. Worst of all, many were set when firefighters, who were untrained in the use of dynamite, attempted to blow up buildings to create firebreaks, which resulted in the destruction of more than half of buildings that would have otherwise survived. The fire chief, who would have been responsible, had died in the initial quake. The dynamited buildings themselves often caught fire. The fires lasted for four days and nights. Some property owners set fire to their damaged buildings because most insurance policies covered fire losses while refusing payment if the building only had earthquake damage.

As water mains were also broken, the city fire department had few resources to fight the fires. Several fires in the downtown area became one giant inferno. The fire destroyed over 500 city blocks of the downtown core from Van Ness Avenue,to the docks on San Francisco Bay. It was reported that Mayor Eugene Schmitz and General Frederick Funston declared martial law. Schmitz issued an law allowing police, vigilante patrols, and military troops to shoot looters on sight, and some 500 people were shot and killed. Funston tried to bring the fire under control by detonating buildings around the fire to create firebreaks with all sorts of means ranging from black powder and dynamite to even artillery barrages. Often the explosions set the ruins on fire or helped spread it. Despite its. It did prove effective in stopping the fire from spreading to the remaining half of the city.

The new city intern fire chief, sent an urgent request to the Presidio, an Army post on the edge of the city, for dynamite. Brigadier General Frederick Funston, commanding the Department of California and a resident of San Francisco had already decided the situation required the use of troops. Getting a policeman, he sent word to Mayor Schmitz of his decision to help, and then ordered Army troops from as far away as Angel Island to mobilize and come into the City. Martial law was never declared, however, and troops took direction from the City's civilian administrators.

During the first few days soldiers provided valuable services patrolling streets to stop looting and guarding buildings such as the US Mint, post office, and county jail. They help the fire department in knocking down buildings in the path of the fires. The Army also became responsible for feeding, sheltering, and clothing the tens of thousands of now homeless residents of the city. This support prompted many citizens to say, "Thank God for the soldiers!" Under the command of Major General Adolphus Greely, Commanding Officer, Funston's superior, over 4,000 troops saw service during the emergency. On July 1, 1906, civil authorities were giving responsibility for relief efforts, and the Army withdrew from the city.

On April 18, in response to riots among evacuees and looting, Mayor Schmitz issued a proclamation that "The Federal Troops, the members of the Regular 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." It is estimated that as many as 500 people were shot dead in the city, many of whom, it has been suggested, were not looting at all, but were attempting to save their own possessions from the fire. Accusations of soldiers themselves engaging in looting also came out.

The earthquake was responsible for the development of the Pacific Heights neighborhood. The Huge power of the earthquake had destroyed almost all of the mansions on Nob Hill except for the Flood Mansion. As a result, the wealthy looked towatds the west where the land was cheap and undeveloped, and where there were better views and a consistently warmer climate. In the years after the war, the "money" on Nob Hill moved to Pacific Heights, they have stayed right up to this day. 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 that was as a meeting point during the disaster for people to look for loved ones and exchange information.

During the first few days after the news of the disaster had reached the rest of the world, relief efforts had reached over $5,000,000. London, England, had 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 gave a special appropriation of $100,000 and even the Bank of Canada in Toronto, Ontario, gave $25,000. The US government quickly voted for one million dollars in supplies which were immediately rushed to the area. These relief efforts, however, were not nearly enough to get families on their feet again, so the burden was placed on wealthier members of the city, who were reluctant to help in the rebuilding of homes they were not responsible for. minorities in the city, who were to be deported in the near future.

The 2006 Centennial Alliance was set up as a clearing-house for various centennial events commemorating the earthquake. Award presentations, religious services, a National Geographic TV movie, a projection of fire onto the Coit Tower, memorials, and lectures were part of the commemorations. The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program issued a series of Internet documents, and the tourism industry promoted the 100th anniversary as well.

The San Andreas Fault runs in a northwest-southeast line along the coast. The numbers on the fault line show how far the ground surface slipped at that location as a result of the 1906 earthquake.

For a number of years, the epicenter of the quake was thought to be near the town of Lemma, in the Point Reyes area of Marin County, because of evidence of the amount of local earth displacement. In the 1960s, a seismologist at UC Berkeley proposed that the epicenter was more likely offshore of San Francisco, to