San Francisco Earthquake took place April 18, 1906

[Jack Rabbit]

That was 99 years ago today.



Photo from the website of San Diego State University

[Dukkha]

1. When I moved to SF in 1990

the living survivors would gather at 5:12 AM to mark the occasion. It was surreal then since there was still lots of damage in the city from the October 17, 1989 quake.

My favorite story was the Hotaling whiskey distillery being saved with a mile long firehose stretched from the wharf. It's now a historical landmark where the plaque on the side of the building repeats a famous query about its surviving the quake: If, as they say, god spanked the town for being over frisky, why did he burn the churches down and save Hotaling's whisky?

I doubt there are any survivors still alive now.

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. They're having an expert on KFOG right now

I listen over the net (www.kfog.com), and they say the survivors would be in their 90s-100s today. But they're acting like there are still a few..

FSC

[Merope215]

3. We used to go to Point Reyes

on vacations, where the epicenter of the 1906 quake was, and in the national seashore they have an earthquake trail with a fence that was broken apart by the quake. It runs along fine for a section, jumps forty feet up a hill, and goes on its way.

The only casualty at the epicenter of the quake was a cow.

[Terran]

4. I've seen that fence too--very bizarre

My grandfather was a 1906 quake survivor, he was a little boy at the time. His whole family ended up being refugees in Oakland, and never did move back across the bay.

I think there may be a very few surviviors left, and I understand they still gather at Lotta's Fountain. I feel melancholy for them, both because of my grandpa, and because I went throught he 1989 quake and its aftermath.

Edit: a picture of that fence:



The red arrows show where the fence separated and moved apart in the quake.

[Dukkha]

5. this fence

I lived in an warehouse loft in Oakland in 1990-92. My loft bed was attached to a brick wall that had a very noticeable bend from the 1989 quake and a large crack that moved the yellow divider lines in the middle of the road outside. I always wondered if another big quake would come during the night and the wall would collapse on me while I was asleep.