1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Anthony,Terry,Lazarus
Event Description
The California earthquake of April 18,1906 ranked as one of the significant earthquakes of all time. The great earthquake broke loose some 20 to 50 seconds later,with an empincenter near San fracisco
Ecological impact
The earthquake also ignited several fires around the city that burned for three days and destroyed nearly 500 city blocks.The earthquake and fires killed an estimated 3,000 people and left half of the city's 400,000 residents homeless.The survivors slept in tents in city parks and the Presidio ,stood in long lines for food, and were required to do their cooking in the street to minimize the threat of additional fires. The House and the Senate Appropriations Committees enacted emergency appropriations for the city to pay for food, water, tents, blankets, and medical supplies in the weeks following the earthquake and fire.
Restoration efforts
the financial pages noted that the bank clearings had touched 30 million more than any West Coast city.Within weeks, streetcars were running on Market Street, replacing the obslete cable cars. The city had been divided by the cable tracks with a slot down the middle, and the working-class district was "South of the Slot." Now, even the cable slot was toe up.carpenters were making $5 dollars a day, bricklayers $6 dollars, and plumbers $7 dollars. Lumber came in by the ship and trainload; the redwood and Douglas fir forests of the North Coast were cut down to rebuild the new San Francisco.but the rebuilding went on