Over the years, natural catastrophes have negatively affected humanity beyond any imagination. Before the introduction of scientific theories, measurements and evaluations, the natural disasters were termed as acts of gods based on Noah’s flood recorded in the Bible, the Greeks myths on floods among other different destructions aimed to ensure people turned their beliefs and actions towards supernatural powers. These ideas were perpetuated through catastrophism but with the introduction of uniformitarianism, following the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 led to the different use of science and geology to define such calamities (Bryant, 2005). It helped change the assumption or act of god phenomenon towards nature and climate changes that over the years been documented to be prevalent in some areas depending on the landscape, winds, and the surface isobar whereby any changes will result in different experiences.
Unlike wars that people can prepare for, natural catastrophes happen anytime, and even the best predictions do not offer maximum protection from the havoc that a single disaster may cause. The San Francisco’s earthquake was one of the worst catastrophe in American history resulting in over $500 million of property loss and approximately 3,000 loss of lives, and the over 250,000 displacement of the inhabitants (Strupp, 2006). At the turn of the 20th century, San Francisco was one of the fastest growing city in America enjoy the best businesses becoming the most important commercial center of the Pacific. This paper aims at analyzing the events of the three-day destruction of almost the entire city, the recovery process and the lessons learnt from the natural disaster.
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San Francisco’s Destruction
The doomsday was evident in the wake of the Wednesday April 18, 1906, the earth moved about 10 feet horizontally, and three feet vertically along the San Andreas Fault for about 300-mile stretch. The metrological described that that earthquake was 8.3 on the Richter scale and the earthquake’s damages were minimal following the movement. The damages caused by the tremors were associated with the destruction of about 5,000 houses, loss of some building roofs, collapsing of chimneys among other minor remnants but the fire caused by different small fires from stoves or leaking gas led to the catastrophic fires that swept most of the city. The tremors destroyed the water supply, and with the lack of modernized ways to extinguish the fire, the firefighters were no match for the spreading of consuming flames (Potter, 2008). The timber houses and the wind led to the faster spread of the fire even in brick houses that were earlier thought to be fireproof.
Leadership inadequacy in the fire department may have also limited their ability to extinguish the fire, but the main reason for the extensive and fast spread was due to the favorable conditions, buildings, and use of dynamite to cut off the spread of the fire. The idea was reasonable but the inefficiency to use the dynamite increased the flames, which would later be put out on the third day following the earthquake. The area had experienced earthquakes in 18830s and 1886, but they had not prepared for the 1906 disaster (Strupp, 2006). The previous natural calamities were minor, few losses incurred but the country and municipal government had done nothing noteworthy to prevent or mitigate a similar event in future thus leading to the loss of lives and massive monetary losses following the disaster. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 became the first natural calamity to be covered extensively with the media taking it upon itself to ensure that the people both domestic and internationally were able to follow the coverage of the situation (Strupp, 2006). More than half of the city was burnt to ashes by the time the firefighters were able to extinguish the fire. The catastrophe was horrific, and most journalists and scholars were fast to claim that the incident was the end of San Francisco and that it would take the city more than ten years to rebuild.
The Aftermath of the Earthquake
Unity is a strength as depicted by the swift reaction and supports the entire American government, states, the Army, Red Cross, and millionaires donated vast sums of money to aid in the provision of immediate relief assistance to the victims. The Mayor with the help of different leaders engaged in quick strategies to provide for the victims who camped in the city’s park and encouraged them to migrate. Trains along the Southern Pacific Railroad aided the course by transporting the victims free and ease congestion in the city’s park, which would have provided room for an epidemic and crime (Strupp, 2006). The Mayor and the Committee of forty were active in ensuring that the city was safe and long-term recovery processes would commence immediately. The U.S. Congress offered a donation to support San Francisco, but the money was only to be used in funding for relief provisions. The destruction accounted for more than $500 with a broad range of property damage that left most journalists and scholars to claim that the earthquake had stopped the city (Strupp, 2006). They argued that it would take a minimum of 10 years for San Francisco to get back on its feet, but the victims and their leaders were confident that they would rebuild the city in no time. The former mayor Phelan had stated, “nothing destroyed that cannot speedily be rebuilt.” The statement demonstrated the optimism and courage to reconstruct the city.
Recovery of San Francisco
As earlier stated, natural disasters happen anytime and their damage can be more than what war can cause in a week or a month. The earthquake and resulting fire had burnt down more than half of the city leading to over 250,000 homeless and in need of fast rebuilding. San Francisco at the time being the center of commerce in the Pacific was wealthy and most businesses operating in the city. The city had over 250 insurance companies of which 100 were domestic whereas the rest were foreign corporations (Canton, 2006). The city also boosted of reinsurance that were located in the city and due to the important economic status of the city, the premiums were quite high thus attracting insurance companies. The insurance companies protected the properties against fire and not the earthquake although the funding of the rebuilding took time 70% of the loss was covered by insurance companies leading to the bankruptcy and shutting down of numerous insurance companies both domestic and foreign due to the high costs (Strupp, 2006). Following the catastrophe, the masses were united in their bid to ensure that they would get the city back to where it was before the disaster.
The unity was evident as described in different articles on that there was not white or colored, wealthy or poor, the community was American. The utopia of equality would fade fast as two months following the destruction; the plans were set in place to begin the rebuilding. The mayor Schmitz had been operating as Ruef’s puppet before the earthquake, but following the disaster, he formed the Committee of 50 to aid in ensuring stability and plan for the future of the city. The Committee would later be replaced by the committee of forty chaired by the former mayor Phelan (Strupp, 2006). During this period, of rebuilding, looting became a notorious crime leading to the mayor to make the order of shoot to kill for any looter. The great force and brutality among the Army and the law enforcers gained negative reviews from the citizens. The opposition was also strong and won against the proposed rebuilding style, which would resemble Paris leading to rebuilding the city in a similar design as it was before the earthquake.
The process of reconstruction was faced with multiple challenges such as discrimination of the Chinese, the rich gaining while the poor remained in poverty, and the martial policies employed for some time following the earthquake (Strupp, 2006). The funding of the rebuilding was mainly from influential millionaires owning most of the businesses in the city, the city’s financial reserves, and loans. The reconstruction took only three years demonstrating the fast recovery of such a calamity.
Lessons Learnt and Conclusion
The change of building codes to ensure that the city would withstand a repeat of such an incident, unity depicted, and the active rebuilding period is some of the lessons from the San Francisco earthquake. The negative issues range from violation of human rights, unpreparedness of such a disaster and the failure to rebuild the city based on equity. San Francisco, history depict that the area is at a risk of future earthquakes but the changing in America’s natural disasters whereby more hurricanes than any other natural catastrophe demonstrate that there are higher chances that a hurricane may devastate the country. The predictions were missing, the response following the earthquake was ineffective whereas the recovery was not smooth which depicts the failures that governments should learn not to repeat, but the fast rebuilding is positive and should be emulated in the case of a similar situation.
References
Bryant, E. (2005). Natural hazards (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Canton, L. (2006). San Francisco 1906 and 2006: An Emergency Management Perspective. Earthquake Spectra , 22 (S2), 159-182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1193/1.2181467
Potter, S. (2008). April 18, 1906: The Great San Francisco Earthquake. Weatherwise , 61 (2), 14-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/wewi.61.2.14-15
Strupp, C., (2006). Dealing with Disaster: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Institute of European Studies . UC Berkeley: Institute of European Studies. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gd2v192
