1906 San Francisco Earthquake Damage

Hello everyone,

Yesterday as I was looking at some earthquake damage from the recent quake in China, one picture stood out in particular:


It reminded me of the pictures I found several months back in our storage of the 1906 earthquake damage in San Francisco. I obtained these pictures back in 2004 when my Aunt passed away. I took the time today to scan them in finally; something I've been wanting to do for some time now. They're at a Resolution of 300 and resized using Photoshop. You can click on the images to get a larger picture if you'd like:
1906 San Francisco Earthquake Damage

I also found some posters of the damage but those are too large for my scanner. When I get a chance I'll see if I can use my camera and get them posted on here too.

My grandmother was 6 when the 1906 SF earthquake struck. She died about two years before the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. Her father (my great grandfather) was a contractor and built several buildings in San Francisco. I can't recall if his buildings there withstood that quake or not. I do know the synagogue he built in Oakland survived the Loma Prieta.

I remember someone telling me awhile back, it's not the earthquake that kills, but the buildings. Unless of course, your standing exactly on the fault line and the earth opens up, as was in the case with Loma Prieta during the World Series at Candlestick Park. A neighbor of ours was there watching the Giants vs. the A's. She said she literally saw the playing field open and close back up again. A good thing the players on the field made it out alright.

Impressive photos!

They show that there was a big difference in damage in various buildings, probably because of differences in the construction techniques used.

In Lisbon there is the Carmo Convent, that is still partly in ruins since the 1755 earthquake.

But the Águas Lives aqueduct "survived" that huge earthquake, although it has some masonry arches 65 metres high.

Thanks for publishing those photos.

reply to post by ArMaP


Your welcome Happy to have shared them here.

And thank you also for the links. That is impressive how the Águas Lives aqueduct did survive the 1755 earthquake. Construction techniques and the ground on which a building is built should always be considered and studied before the foundation is laid.

I remember my Architectural teacher telling us he wouldn't take jobs that were located on hillsides because there's always a chance of ground slippage. I can see why now, since during the last storm here, some of the houses and streets have collapsed in the hills. Not only that, but the Hayward fault runs across the foothills and creeping has caused sidewalks to shift. The last major earthquake that happened on that fault was back in October 21, 1868. (There's a slide of pictures of that quake too at the link.)

I learned that San Francisco is not all natural land but parts are landfill. Parts of Treasure Island are as well. Here's a link to a map of the areas of fill along with article:
San Francisco Hazard Maps

San Francisco Hazard Maps
New maps from the state of California help San Franciscans learn where the bad ground lies.

Ever since its earliest days, earthquakes have kept San Francisco on the edge of its seat. The 1868 quake, for instance, destroyed so much of the city that it was called "the great quake" until 1906, when a truly great quake struck the city by the bay.

We learned a lot from the 1906 earthquake: things like the ways the ground moves, and how buildings endure or succumb to ground movements. But people were so eager to rebuild San Francisco that many of the lessons, like zoning changes and upgraded building codes, could not be put to use. A set of seismic hazard maps from the state of California, issued in November 2000, gives the people of San Francisco help in doing the right thing.

Link to larger map

Hello all...

Here is a picture I took of both sides of one poster. It was about evening time when I took them so it may be a bit dark. One side shows the account of William Randolf Hearst which is a bit glared. You can zoom in to see the words better. Hopefully I can get better pictures when I work on these posters later.

Birdseye View of the Ruins of San Francisco

The San Francisco That Was And The San Francisco That Is To Be

Julia Morgan was Hearst's Architect. She's most famous for her work of the Hearst Castle. One of the structures she built before the 1906 earthquake was a bell tower which withstood the quake as well.