100 Years Ago Today

April 18, 1906: The Great 1906 Earthquake hit at 5:12am and lasted for 40 seconds.

Anyone who has ever been in an earthquake knows that 40 seconds is a really long time for an earthquake to last. I can't even imagine...

The fires that were caused by the earthquake burned for 3 days after. It was the fires that devastated the city, and left more than half of the population homeless.

Now is a good time to think about Earthquake Preparation.
We have our earthquake kit(s) in the basement right by the doorway. They are filled with canned food, water, a can opener, cat food, bowls, flashlights, batteries, clothing and shoes. Now that I think about it, we should swap out some of the food and water that's been sitting in there for a couple of years. I've also been meaning to buy one of those hand-cranked radios to keep in there. We also have a wrench sitting right next to our gas valves in the basement.

We've been watching a special about the 1906 earthquake on the National Geographic Channel. We're about half way through, and so far, it's been very interesting. We didn't realize that SOMA (South of Market) was built on landfill, and that it was the area most hard hit by the earthquake itself. When I think of San Francisco landfill, I only thought of the Marina, and the Financial District. It's good to know that our house is sitting on solid bedrock. Although our house was built right after the quake (1908) it is on a solid foundation, and even fared well during the 1989 quake. My friend Andrew lived in the upstairs condo at the time, and he's told me that only 1 hard plastic Raggedy Ann figure met it's fate on that day.