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1906 San Francisco earthquake

At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). High-intensity shaking was felt from Eureka on the North Coast to the Salinas Valley, an agricultural region to the south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Devastating fires soon broke out in San Francisco and lasted for several days. More than 3,000 people died, and over 80% of the city was destroyed. The event is remembered as the deadliest earthquake in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history and high on the lists of American disasters.

"San Francisco earthquake" redirects here. For the 1989 earthquake, see 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. For the 2014 earthquake, see 2014 South Napa earthquake.

UTC time

1906-04-18 13:12:27

April 18, 1906 (1906-04-18)

05:12:27 (PST)

7.9 Mw[1]

5 mi (8.0 km)[2]

Yes[5]

700–3,000+[6]

Tectonic setting[edit]

The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that forms part of the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.[3] The strike-slip fault is characterized by mainly lateral motion in a dextral sense, where the western (Pacific) plate moves northward relative to the eastern (North American) plate. This fault runs the length of California from the Salton Sea in the south to Cape Mendocino in the north, a distance of about 810 miles (1,300 km). The maximum observed surface displacement was about 20 feet (6 m); geodetic measurements show displacements of up to 28 feet (8.5 m).[7]

Centennial commemorations[edit]

The 1906 Centennial Alliance[86] was set up as a clearing-house for various centennial events commemorating the earthquake. Award presentations, religious services, a National Geographic TV movie,[87] a projection of fire onto the Coit Tower,[88] memorials, and lectures were part of the commemorations. The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program issued a series of Internet documents,[89] and the tourism industry promoted the 100th anniversary as well.[90]


Eleven survivors of the 1906 earthquake attended the centennial commemorations in 2006, including Irma Mae Weule (1899–2008),[91] who was the oldest survivor of the quake at the time of her death in August 2008, aged 109.[92] Vivian Illing (1900–2009) was believed to be the second-oldest survivor at the time of her death, aged 108, leaving Herbert Hamrol (1903–2009) as the last known remaining survivor at the time of his death, aged 106. Another survivor, Libera Armstrong (1902–2007), attended the 2006 anniversary but died in 2007, aged 105.[93] Shortly after Hamrol's death, two additional survivors were discovered. William Del Monte, then 103, and Jeanette Scola Trapani (1902–2009),[94] 106, stated that they stopped attending events commemorating the earthquake when it became too much trouble for them.[95] Del Monte and another survivor, Rose Cliver (1902–2012), then 106, attended the earthquake reunion celebration on April 18, 2009, the 103rd anniversary of the earthquake.[96] Nancy Stoner Sage (1905–2010) died, aged 105, in Colorado just three days short of the 104th anniversary of the earthquake on April 18, 2010. Del Monte attended the event at Lotta's Fountain in 2010.[97] 107-year-old George Quilici (1905–2012) died in May 2012,[98] and 113-year-old Ruth Newman (1901–2015) in July 2015.[99] William Del Monte (1906–2016), who died 11 days shy of his 110th birthday, was thought to be the last survivor.[100]


In 2005 the National Film Registry added San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906, a newsreel documentary made soon after the earthquake, to its list of American films worthy of preservation.[101]

The City That Was, a series of 1906 articles for The Sun, in New York City, and later as a booklet.[109][110][111]

Will Irwin

, 1936 disaster movie presenting a fictionalised account, starring Clark Gable

San Francisco

The earthquake is a major event in 's play Angels in America.[112]

Tony Kushner

earthquake photographer

Arnold Genthe

earthquake photographer

George R. Lawrence

Committee of Fifty (1906)

Earthquake engineering

List of earthquakes in 1906

List of earthquakes in California

List of earthquakes in the United States

List of disasters in the United States by death toll

List of fires

Archived February 11, 2017, at the Wayback Machine – United States Geological Survey

The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

at Curlie

1906 San Francisco earthquake

National Archives

The 1906 Earthquake and Fire

American Memory at the Library of Congress

Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early Films of San Francisco, 1897–1916

American Geological Institute

A geologic tour of the San Francisco earthquake, 100 years later

Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco website

The Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire

Archived August 27, 2011, at the Wayback MachineBancroft Library

The Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire

– Shapell Manuscript Foundation

Mark Twain and the San Francisco Earthquake

Internet Archive

Several videos of the aftermath

San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906

Archived June 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

Seismographs of the earthquake taken from the Lick Observatory from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections

Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine – The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco

Timeline of the San Francisco Earthquake April 18 – 23, 1906

– Photographic account of earthquake and fire aftermath from well-known North Beach photographer

JB Monaco Photography

– USGS

Tsunami Record from the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

The has a bibliography and/or authoritative data for this event.

International Seismological Centre