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 San Francisco, California
April 18, 1906
At 5:12 a.m., the earth ruptured beneath the Pacific Ocean just off the young city’s shores. The sun rose on a scene of total devastation.
What happened?
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A stretch of the San Andreas Fault almost 300 miles long snapped upwards—more than 25 feet in some places.
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Some 28,000 San Francisco buildings were toppled or were ravaged by a fire that burned for three days.
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At least 3,000 people lost their lives. |
Scientists in 1906 knew about the great gash in the California ground called the San Andreas Fault. But they understood little about why that ground sometimes shook so violently.
The “Great San Francisco Earthquake” changed all that. Scientists rallied to study the quake and the fault so that next time, we might be better prepared. Today, we have a pretty solid idea of what goes on deep within the not-so-solid ground beneath our feet.
Continue to the Understanding Earthquakes. >>
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