The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake And Jack London 's Reportings Essay

The San Andreas fault line has caused constant development nightmares for large urban areas such as San Francisco as well as the other cities built on top of it. Fault lines are one of the side effects of the earth’s tectonic plates shifting that can result in devastating earthquakes. Some of the most devastating earthquakes in our modern era have occurred along the San Andreas fault line due to a dense population. The most notable and destructive earthquake on the San Andreas fault line occurred in San Francisco in 1906. The reason this earthquake was so deadly was because of its magnitude and the city’s poor planning. This earthquake was a wakeup call for San Francisco and force the city to revolutionize its knowledge on earthquakes and how to protect their city. Today San Francisco is one of the most well prepared cities for an earthquake and has made great discoveries in earthquake safety measures. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco has drastically changed how the city has developed its zoning and building code policies, and its earthquake research.

Emma Burke’s point of view of the earthquake in “Comprehending the Calamity” was that it was violent, and hard to understand. She states that “No one can comprehend the calamity to San Francisco in its entirety…” (Burke, 1). This explains to us that the damage caused by the earthquake must have been devastating.. She also describes the extreme force of the earthquake, saying “The shock came, and hurled my bed against an opposite wall… It grew constantly worse, the noise deafening; the crash of dishes… the groaning and straining of the building itself” (1). By describing the enormous event in detail, we can get a sense of just how bad every building was shaking and crumbling.

The San Francisco earthquake on April 18, 1906 was one of the most devastating earthquakes felt by a lot of states. At 5:15 am, this earthquake which registered at 8.25 on the Richter Scale shook San Francisco, California. The earthquake lasted less than a minute and it did a lot of destruction in that period of time. The most destructive part during the San Francisco earthquake was the fires which began after, as a result of the earthquake. The fires killed about 3,000 people and left 400,000 homeless (San Francisco Earthquake). The San Francisco earthquake epicenter was located near San Andreas fault and as a result, the damages caused by the earthquake was felt many miles along the San Andreas fault line. The city of San Francisco was known for its culture and economy, and because of the impact of the earthquake and fire, the city was in total disaster. Because of the magnitude of the earthquake and the amount of damage it did to the city of San Francisco, a lot of data and digital images have been collected so that it can be used for references and be displayed at its anniversary.

On August 24, 2014 a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred in and around the city of Napa, CA. The earthquake killed one person and injured over 150 people. And these people were treated at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa [1]. More and more earthquakes occurred on this earth. So this grasps people’s attention.

• This earthquake may not have released all of the strain stored in its rocks next to the fault this reveals a potential earthquake in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the near future. The occurrence of the earthquake showed that the Earth did not exhaust all its strain and hence other earthquakes could be expected. However, the dates could not be predicted. The extent of the damage could have been much more devastating for the region, but with the earthquake occurring near the coast this made half of the felt area westward in the Pacific Ocean. The occurrence of aftershocks ten days later reinforces the unpredictability nature and hence makes Geology to be a study that is always evolving. In conclusion, the Earth and the study of cannot be exhausted as every natural occurrence provides a new puzzle to be solved.

An Earthquake that registered 7.8 on the Richter Scale which lasted approximately 1 minute caused catastrophic damage to the City of Berkeley and LPHG. As a result of the Earthquake 31

George Heinrich Crist, a resident of Kentucky, was settled with his family in a well-built house when the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811 came across their path, unlike a storm this “thing” had no warnings. He chose to share his account of this quake, or quakes. This was part of his life and also a part of history in the making so that is why I believe he shared his personal essay. It’s not an argumentative account but rather short entries from 5 months from his life. Kentucky wasn’t the only state that was hurt, 6 other states were involved. The term “New Madrid Earthquake” refers to portions of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. This was the biggest earthquake (series of earthquakes) as it changed the course of the Mississippi river.

Over more than 50 decades there has been multiple earthquakes that have been caused by the activity that takes place beneath and above the surface of the earth. For every earthquake there are various effects and consequences, these are generally not preventable but teachable moments. As we study and explore landforms we learn and better understand how today 's structures came about, what took place decades ago and where do we go from here. Thanks to the technology and inquiring minds we are able to study past events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In comparing these two events we can get an overview of what happened and better prepare ourselves for something like that in the future.

The Earthquake shook buildings and walls to the ground. But, what came after the quake was much more devastating. Fires broke out in every direction and this thriving city became mostly ashes. People became curious and gracious in this time of turmoil and that has never before been seen in San Francisco. When all hope was lost the firefighters made a great stand putting out the fire and ending the turmoil.

The tectonic setting for the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was in the outermost shell of earth consisting of rigid plates that have been moving for hundreds of millions of years. Two of these moving plates meet in western California; the boundary between them is a zone of faults, the principal one being the San Andreas fault. The Pacific Plate (on the west) slides horizontally northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east), causing earthquakes along the San Andreas and associated faults. The San Andreas fault is a transform plate boundary, accommodating horizontal relative motions (usgs.gov).

On April 18, 1906, an earthquake occurred in San Francisco with a magnitude of 7.9. The earthquake was caused by the San Andreas Fault since the San Andreas Fault slip over a segment. The earthquake could be felt from Oregon to southern California. Buildings in San Francisco was destroyed by earthquake and fires. Fires started after the earthquake occurred and firefighters were not able to stop the fire because the water mains were broken and because of this, firestorms started to develop around San Francisco. Then, the San Francisco Mayor E.E. Schmitz called the U.S. Army troops to shoot anyone that is found looting. While the army was doing that, firefighters and U.S. troops tried to fight the fire by dynamiting the city to create firewalls.

California, and thus San Francisco, lies on the San Andres fault. The earthquake was caused when this fault suddenly shifted, with the rupture spreading for a total of 476 kilometres in northward and southward direction. “This fault is a continental transform fault, which forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate.” (1906 Earthquake: How long was the 1906 Crack? USGS Earthquake Hazards Program – Northern California, Accessed September 3, 2006). 1 The distance of the fault is of about 1300 kilometres, which runs the length of California from Cape Mendocino in the north to the Salton Sea in the south. Geologists have estimated that the fault moved as quickly as 2.74 kilometres per second. The San Andreas Fault, the source of this disaster, lies ten miles or deeper, at the meeting point of two tectonic plates, the Pacific and the North American. “The right-lateral strike-slip fault is characterized by mainly lateral motion in a dextral sense, where the western plate (Pacific plate) moves northward relative to the eastern plate (North American

According to the court clerk of the U.S. District Court of San Francisco, the earthquake lasted around a minute, however that minute was enough to inflict one of the most devastating disasters in United States history. The earthquake was felt from Oregon to Las Angeles as well as Nevada with the epicenter occurring 2 miles away from San Francisco in the Pacific Ocean. The quake resulted in water mains and gas lines breakages, and the fires raged unchecked which spread to over 500 blocks in San Francisco. Although the earthquake of 1906 is known as the San Francisco earthquake, the cities of Santo Rosa and San Jose were affected as well and lost much of their infrastructure.

The San-Francisco earthquake caused quite a lot of damage in the area, but what is an earthquake? An earthquake is the movement of tectonic plates along a transform boundary and what plate is California sitting on? The Pacific Plate which is not connected to the North American plate and the plate boundary is a transform boundary. Earthquakes occur so often there that people say it is like a rainstorm that is ignored. The place where the Pacific Plate is grinding along with the North American Plate is called the San Andreas Fault. As stated before the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8 which caused so much destruction a fire broke out. Nobody really knows where the fire started but it burned for 7 days and scorched over 500 city blocks leaving the once proud and powerful city into dust. The combination of the earthquake and fire is said to have killed “ Over 700 deaths by the earthquake and fire is now believed to be an understatement the total loss of life by a factor of 3 or 4.” (The Great 1906 San-Francisco Earthquake.)

Jack London writes in a very serious way. He personifies the city in his writing and writes as though the earthquake injured the city and caused it to die. The personification causes the city to feel desolate and alone as he does not write in other people into the writing. The language that London uses to describe the earthquake describes it in a way that