San Francisco Fire & Earthquake
Kyra Shill
1906
April 18,1906 there was a small 40 second earthquake, a pause for 10 seconds and than continued again for 25 more seconds. The earthquake was around a 7.8 and an 8.3 magnitude. The plates moved past each other farther than 15 feet (average is 2 inches). Within hours the aftershock resulted in a breakout of fires across the city destroying the remaining structures.
Ecological Impact
Over 200,000 people were left homeless and 3,00 were dead. It stretched from southern California, to western Nevada, and than to southern Oregon. It destroyed sewer pipes, crippled telephone poles, and destroyed roads for transportation and railways. Most of the buildings were torn down in the earthquake and if they weren't they were burned down by the fire.
Reconstruction
Estimated cost of the property damage was around $235-500 million. The cost outside the city was around $4 million was spent fixing areas outside the city. After the earthquake and fire there was a building boom, more jobs were opened to help rebuild all that was destroyed.
Nine years after the earthquake there was many new pastel-colored towers of rubble of the old city, showing San Francisco was back.