Happy 100th Birthday to the Great San Francisco Earthquake

[Kevy Baby]

April 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake. It along with the devestating fire that succeeded it whiped out a large portion of The City.

Yeah, I know I am an hour-and-a-half early...

[CoasterMatt]

It's also my wife's birthday, how cool!

[Kevy Baby]

Tell her I said happy birthday. And to not get all shook up about her age.

I'm sorry: I'm tired and that was the best I could come up with.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

May you enjoy her fault line on her birthday.

[€uroMeinke]

I think we all should eat some Jello in celebration

[LSPoorEeyorick]

What is it with you guys and Jell-o lately?

[NickO'Time]

It 's yummy with that special concoction.

[€uroMeinke]

What is it with you guys and Jell-o lately?

Oh dear, is there a patern I wasn't aware of? Perhaps it is time I made that appointment with a mental health professional...

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

I hate jello!!

[Snowflake]

The earth shook, the sky burned.
Here are some historic photos (http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906/photos.html) of the event. Check the link on the botom of the page for footage at the LOC.

No shopping in Union Square, just look at Geary and Stockton (http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist2/stockgear.html)!

The Faimount looks so much better without the tower (http://www.sfmuseum.org/06photos/pix8.html)!

This is just down the street (http://www.sfmuseum.org/06photos/pix36.html) from my first apartment on Bush St. I would always stop by and give the old guy a nod as I walked to work in the mornings.

Here's to the Grand City of San Francisco, risen from the ashes, there is no place quite like it.

[Prudence]

I don't think we've ever managed to have our earthquakes and our city-destroying fires happen at the same time. So yay SF!

[Matterhorn Fan]

I do love San Francisco.

[innerSpaceman]

Just curious ... how long did it take for San Francisco to "rise from the ashes"?? The folks in New Orleans want a benchmark.

[Matterhorn Fan]

San Francisco did of course rebuild itself, making its formal debut as in the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exhibition, a world’s fair visited by millions from all over the world. The city never regained its status as the capital of the West, losing that title to Los Angeles, but it did, for all effects and purposes, come back. One can only hope that New Orleans will do so, and as triumphantly, too.

Source: link here. (http://www.americanheritage.com/places/articles/web/20060418-san-francisco-earthquake-1906-andreas-fault-ansel-adams-frederick-funston-market-street-dennis-sullivan-enrico-caruso-hurricane-katrina-jack-london.shtml)

[€uroMeinke]

New Orleans World Fair!

[Matterhorn Fan]

They've got about 8 years to get ready.

[innerSpaceman]

And was it before or after the Big One that San Franciscans got all persnickity about the city being called either "Frisco" or "San Fran?"


Sometimes I think another quake might actually do the trick.

[Matterhorn Fan]

They've been persnickety through at least one major earthquake already, so I'm not sure that's going to work.

FWIW, I cannot STAND the word "Frisco." (I'm not from there, but I have family who were, maybe that's why?)

[CoasterMatt]

But your Disney geek heritage! The Frisco Kid!

[Matterhorn Fan]

As I've never seen the Frisco Kid, I'm afraid I have no Disney-Frisco heritage; thus, my San Franciscan heritage wins out.

[Stan4dSteph]

Oh dear.

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/usa/1906_04_18_019_small.gif

[JWBear]

Oh dear.

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/usa/1906_04_18_019_small.gif
Ah yes, poor professor Agassiz. "The headforemost scientist in the US...A fine fellow in the abstract, but no good in the concrete." ;)

[Snowflake]

Oh dear.

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/usa/1906_04_18_019_small.gif
Great photo! Never seen this one!

[scaeagles]

I watched an interesting program on the history channel on this. It covered the destruction involved, the recovery, and what will happen to SF when (not if, mind you, but when) the next one hits. I guess the biggest threat isn't the San Andreas fault, but the Hayward fault.

Currently, and I was unaware of this, SF is spending tons of money to retofit bridges and historical buildings to be more earthquake safe. It was rather impressive seeing what engineers had come up with in strengthening the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge.

there is, however, no way that it is possible to make all existing structures safe. When the next one hits of that magnitude, the number put up for rebuilding was 300 billion dollars. I don't know who made the estimate or how accurate it is, but that's a big number.