April 18, 1906



San Francisco was hit by a Great Earthquake at 5:13 a.m., and then destroyed by the seventh Great Fire that burned for four days.



Hundreds, perhaps thousands of trapped persons died when South-of-Market tenements collapsed as the ground liquefied beneath them. Most of those buildings immediately caught fire, and trapped victims could not be rescued. Reevaluation of the 1906 data, during the 1980s, placed the total earthquake death toll at more than 3,000 from all causes.



Damage was estimated at $500,000,000 in 1906 dollars in 1906 dollars.



All telephone and telegraph communications stopped within the city, although some commercial telegraph circuits to New York and to India remained temporarily in operation.



There were 135 aftershocks on April 18 and 22 on April 19.



This is a Personal Recollection of those eventful days in words and pictures.