The 1906 San Francisco Quake

At 5:12 AM on April 18, 1906, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake ruptured along the San Andreas Fault. The shaking lasted about one minute, but the fires that followed burned for three days, destroying over 80% of the city. The quake ruptured 477 km of fault line and was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles.

Over 3,000 people died and 225,000 were left homeless. The disaster revealed that most damage came not from shaking but from fire spreading through wooden buildings and broken gas lines. The earthquake triggered the first serious scientific study of fault mechanics and led directly to modern seismic building codes.