Contents
[hide]
* 1 Geology
* 2 Subsequent fires
* 3 The army's role in the aftermath
* 4 Relocation and housing of displaced
* 5 Aftermath and reconstruction
* 6 International assistance and insurance payments
* 7 Damage to other towns
* 8 Centennial commemorations
* 9 Analysis
* 10 See also
* 11 Notes
* 12 References
* 13 External links
Geology
The San Andreas Fault.
The San Andreas Fault.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was caused by a rupture on the San Andreas Fault. This fault runs the length of California from the Salton Sea in the south to Cape Mendocino to the north, a distance of about 800 miles (1,300 km). The earthquake ruptured the northern third of the fault for a distance of 296 miles (477 km). The maximum observed surface displacement was about 20 feet (6 m); however, geodetic measurements show displacements of up to 28 feet (8.5 m).[6]
A strong foreshock preceded the mainshock by about 20 to 25 seconds. The strong shaking of the main shock lasted about 42 seconds. The shaking intensity as described on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale reached VIII in San Francisco and up to IX in areas to the north like Santa Rosa where destruction was almost complete.
There were decades of minor earthquakes - more than at any other time in the historical record for northern California - before the 1906 quake. Widely previously interpreted as precursory activity to the 1906 earthquake, they have been found to have a strong seasonal pattern and were found to be due to large seasonal sediment loads in coastal bays that overlie faults as a result of the erosion caused by "hydraulic mining" in the later years of the California Gold Rush.[7]
As damaging as the earthquake and its aftershocks were, the fires that burned out of control afterward were much more destructive.[8] It has been estimated that as much as 90% of the total destruction was a result from the subsequent fires.[citation needed] Due to the nearly universal practice of insurers to indemnify San Francisco properties from fire but not earthquake damage, most damage within the city was blamed on the fires. It is probable, due to the extreme magnitude of the earthquake and the poor buildings standards of the time, that a majority of structures destroyed that day were initially destroyed from the movement of the earth before succumbing to fire.[citation needed] Fires broke out in many parts of town, some initially 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 untrained in the use of dynamite attempted to dynamite buildings to create firebreaks, which resulted in the destruction of more than half of buildings that would have otherwise survived.[9] 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 prohibiting payment if the building had only sustained earthquake damage. This effort was futile, as wealthier citizens of the city were burdened with the cost of repairing an estimated 80% of the city. Captain Leonard D. Wildman of the U.S. Army Signal Corps[10] reported that he "was stopped by a fireman who told me that people in that neighborhood were firing their houses... They were told that they would not get their insurance on buildings damaged by the earthquake unless they were damaged by fire."[9]
As water mains were also broken, the city fire department had few resources with which to fight the fires. Several fires in the downtown area merged to become one giant inferno. One journalist at the time wrote that readers elsewhere should understand that it was not a fire in San Francisco, but rather a fire of San Francisco.[citation needed] The fire ultimately destroyed over 500 city blocks of the downtown core from Van Ness Avenue, a wide arterial thoroughfare that bisects the center of the city, to the docks on San Francisco Bay.[citation needed] It was erroneously reported that Mayor Eugene Schmitz and General Frederick Funston declared martial law. Schmitz did, however, issue an edict allowing police, vigilante patrols, and military troops to shoot looters on sight, and some 500 people were shot and killed.[citation needed] Funston tried to bring the fire under control by detonating blocks of 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 their shortcomings, these strategies did eventually prove effective in stopping the fire from spreading westward (beyond Van Ness Avenue) to the remaining half of the city.[citation needed]
One landmark building lost in the fire was the Palace Hotel, subsequently rebuilt, which had many famous visitors, including royalty and celebrated performers. It was constructed in 1875 primarily financed by Bank of California co-founder William Ralston, the "man who built San Francisco". In April 1906, the world's greatest tenor, Enrico Caruso, and members of the Metropolitan Opera Company came to San Francisco to give a series of performances at the Tivoli Opera House. The night after Caruso's performance in Carmen, the tenor was awakened in the early morning in his Palace Hotel suite by a strong jolt. Clutching an autographed photo of President Theodore Roosevelt, Caruso made an effort to get out of the city, first by boat and then by train, and vowed never to return to San Francisco. He kept his word. The Metropolitan Opera Company lost all of the sets and costumes it had brought to the earthquake and ensuing fires.[citation needed]
Some of the greatest losses from fire were in scientific laboratories. Alice Eastwood, the Curator of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, is credited with saving nearly 1,500 specimens, including the entire type specimen collection for a newly discovered and extremely rare species, before the remainder of the largest botanical collection in the western United States was consumed by fire.[11][12] The entire laboratory and all the records of Benjamin R. Jacobs, a biochemist who was researching the nutrition of everyday foods, was lost.[13] Another treasure lost in the fires was the original California flag used in the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt at Sonoma, which at the time was being stored in a state building in San Francisco.[citation needed]
The city interim fire chief (the original one was killed when the earthquake first struck) sent an urgent request to the Presidio, an Army post on the edge of the stricken city, for dynamite. Brigadier General Frederick Funston, commander of the Department of California and a resident of San Francisco, had already decided the situation required the use of troops. Collaring a policeman, he sent word to Mayor Schmitz of his decision to assist, and then ordered Army troops from as far away as Angel Island to mobilize and come into the City. Explosives were ferried across the Bay from the California Powder Works in what is now Hercules. Martial law was never declared, however, and troops took guidance from the City's civilian administrators.[14]
During the first few days, soldiers provided valuable services patrolling streets to discourage looting and guarding buildings such as the US Mint, post office, and county jail. They aided the fire department in dynamiting to demolish buildings in the path of the fires. The Army also became responsible for feeding, sheltering, and clothing the tens of thousands of displaced residents of the city. This support prompted many citizens to exclaim, "Thank God for the soldiers!"[citation needed] Under the command of Funston's superior, Major General Adolphus Greely, Commanding Officer, Pacific Division, over 4,000 troops saw service during the emergency. On July 1, 1906, civil authorities assumed 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 and ordered posted 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 advancing fire.[15] In addition, accusations of soldiers themselves engaging in looting also surfaced.[16]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake
0 comments:
Post a Comment