1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,199 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: show that tallies the gains and losses of everyday history. 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're exploring the legacy of 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,920 Speaker 1: the violent earthquake that rocked San Francisco at the turn 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century. The day was April eighteenth, nineteen 7 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: o six. A powerful earthquake devastated San Francisco, California. The 8 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: exact magnitude of the quake is unknown, as the Richter 9 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 1: scale had not yet been developed, but seismologists now estimate 10 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 1: that it was somewhere between seven point nine and eight 11 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: point three. Wherever it fell within that range, it was 12 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: enough to qualify it as one of the strongest and 13 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: most deadly earthquakes in modern history. The quake was caused 14 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: by sudden movement along the San Andreas Fault, the boundary 15 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: line between the Earth's North American and Pacific tectonic plates. 16 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,839 Speaker 1: In general, the Pacific plate moves north and the North 17 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,119 Speaker 1: American plate moves south at a rate of about two 18 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: inches per year. However, as the plates continue to shift 19 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: over time, an enormous amount of tension is produced, and 20 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: when that strain reaches a breaking point, the two plates 21 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: abruptly lurch forward, overlapping one another and releasing a massive 22 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: amount of pent up energy. That's what happened at approximately 23 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: five twelve a m. On April eighteen, nineteen oh six. 24 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: The land on the eastern side of the fault, including 25 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: the city of San Francisco, moved southward, while the land 26 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: on the western side was pushed northward. The plates moved 27 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: past each other by nearly twenty feet, producing a forty 28 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: second tremor, known as a foreshock, which knocked over furniture 29 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: and shattered glass all across the city. Then, after an 30 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: eerily calm ten second interval, an even stronger tremor struck, 31 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: lasting about twenty five seconds. Although the quake's epicenter was 32 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: several miles off shore from San Francisco, it was powerful 33 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: enough to be felt from southern Oregon to Los Angeles 34 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: and as far inland as Nevada. Survivors reported seeing the 35 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: ground move in waves, with some reaching as high as 36 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: three feet. The city's streets and sidewalks split open, and 37 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: buildings swayed wildly, shaking loose their brick facades. And choking 38 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: the air with thick clouds of dust. The violent shaking 39 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,920 Speaker 1: buried hundreds of people beneath debris, But far more deadly 40 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: were the fires that immediately broke out all over town. 41 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: Some reports estimate as many as sixty distinct blazes. They 42 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: were caused by a variety of factors, including broken gas lines, 43 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: overturned stoves, and fallen power lines. The fires spread quickly 44 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: as much of the city was composed of brick buildings 45 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: and wooden Victorian structures. In some places, the flames reached 46 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: temperatures of twenty five hundred degrees fahrenheit, hot enough to 47 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: melt glass and buckle steel beams. Firefighters sprang into action, 48 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: but because the city's water mains had been ruptured, the 49 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: hydrants produced little more than a trickle. In a desperate 50 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: bid to contain the blaze, the fire department resorted to 51 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: dynamiting buildings that were in the fire's path. The goal 52 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: was to create gaps or fire breaks to stop it 53 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: from spreading further, but because the civilian firefighters had little 54 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: or no experience using explosives, the tactic often did more 55 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: harm than good. Explosions actually spread the flames and in 56 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: several instances, bystanders were caught in the blasts and either 57 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: killed instantly or flung backward into the flames. Far more 58 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: effective were the tug boats along the city's waterfront, which 59 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: were able to feed the fire hoses by pumping sea 60 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: water from the bay. As the situation grew more dire 61 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: in the face of aftershocks, San Francisco Mayor Eugene Schmidtz 62 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 1: called in the U. S. Army to help with evacuations, 63 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: to guard government buildings, and to restore order wherever possible. 64 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: He also instituted a dusk to dawn's city wide curfew 65 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: and issued a controversial proclamation authorizing federal troops and city 66 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: police officers to shoot to kill anyone caught looting or 67 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: committing any other crime. The fires in San Francisco continued 68 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: to rage for three days, but by the morning of 69 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: April twenty first, they had essentially burned themselves out. In 70 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 1: that time, nearly five hundred city blocks had been leveled, 71 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: with more than twenty eight thousand buildings completely destroyed, including 72 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: most of the city's homes and almost the entirety of 73 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:17,040 Speaker 1: the business district. The damage was estimated at about five 74 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: hundred million dollars, the equivalent of that year's entire federal 75 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: budget and more than seventeen billion dollars in today's money. 76 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: The human toll was just as catastrophic. Approximately three hundred 77 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: thousand people were rendered homeless in a city which at 78 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,839 Speaker 1: the time had a population of just over four hundred thousand, 79 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: and although early estimates placed the number of casualties at 80 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: just under seven hundred people, the true death toll is 81 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: now believed to be more than three thousand. Although nothing 82 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 1: could be done for those who'd lost their lives, the 83 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: survivors were met with an outpouring of support from other 84 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: states and from foreign countries. The arduous task of reconstruction 85 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: began that very summer, and thanks to a one hundred 86 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: and seventy five million dollar insurance claim filed by the city, 87 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: many San Franciscans were able to rebuild their homes and 88 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: businesses right away. The silver lining of the earthquake and 89 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 1: resulting fires was that it provided city planners with a 90 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:23,679 Speaker 1: blank slate, allowing them to recreate San Francisco better than ever. 91 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: The city's origins as a Western boom town during the 92 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: gold Rush of eighteen forty nine had resulted in a 93 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: somewhat arbitrary layout. Buildings and infrastructure had been added as 94 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 1: needed and built with whatever materials were available, But with 95 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: most of the city destroyed, planners were able to start 96 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: fresh with a more logical design and more earthquake resistant materials. 97 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: The Great San Francisco earthquake of nineteen oh six wasn't 98 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: the first or the last time that the city would 99 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:59,559 Speaker 1: experience wide scale devastation. In fact, it had already burned 100 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: to the ground six times between eighteen forty nine and 101 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one, leading the city to adopt the mythical 102 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: phoenix as its official symbol. San Francisco has also dealt 103 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: with plenty more earthquakes over the decades, including another major 104 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: one in nineteen eighty nine. Today, the city finds itself 105 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: struggling not with natural disasters, but with systemic ones, rampant homelessness, 106 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: surgeon crime, and a growing wave of business closures. But 107 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: if history is anything to go by, there's a strong 108 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: chance that even if the boom town of San Francisco 109 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: goes bust, it will eventually rise again from its ashes. 110 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: I'm gabelues yay, and hopefully you now know a little 111 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: more about history Today than you did yesterday. If you'd 112 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: like to keep up with the show, you can follow 113 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, 114 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free 115 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: to send him my way by writing to This Day 116 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing 117 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see 118 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow for another day in History class.