Defining Moment: 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Introduction

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake is one of the most devastating earthquakes not only in the American history but also in the world’s (Geist & Zoback, 2015). The quake led to the destruction of more than twenty-eight thousand buildings and significant loss of lives. This catastrophic event would, however, play a pivotal role in the understanding of earthquakes and how they occur. The following paper seeks to discuss why the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is a significant disaster and the impact on the future of San Francisco and California. 

Significance of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake has been widely described as one of the most significant earthquakes in history based on the destruction it caused, the lives that were lost and the subsequent insight gained (Geist & Zoback, 2015). The greatest lesson that makes this earthquake significant even in the modern history and future responses to earthquake events is the resultant rapid geologic advancement. Notably, San Francisco was a great city by 1906 whereby it was having close to five hundred residents. The city was a critical trading and economic center for the United States especially the west coast. In the early morning of April 18th , an M7.8 earthquake would strike the offshore of the coastal region of California leading to violent shaking of San Francisco and the production of fires across the city (Geist & Zoback, 2015). Although the earthquake resulted in catastrophic destruction, it played a critical role in birthing the U.S understanding of not only earthquakes but also events related to such occurrences. After the San Francisco earthquake, there was extensive research which helped with the formulation of elastic rebound theory by Henry Fielding Reid in 1910. With the development of this theory and the plate tectonics coming into the limelight in more than fifty years after this disaster, one will be forgiven to argue that the United States and the world have become more motivated and more developed in understanding, in a better way, how earthquakes occur in different parts of the world. 

Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the massive destruction of property and loss of life would make the American geological survey to start undertaking a comprehensive study of the California’s San Andreas Fault system (Geist & Zoback, 2015). Accordingly, a team that consisted of twenty-five geologists, as well as seismologists, including other experts would work hard to come up with the “The Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission”, which was published in May 1906. At the same time, a subsequent report would later be published in 1908 by Lawson. Critical to note is that the 1908 publication has been termed as the most influential and extensive single report on earthquakes. In this accord, the fundamental aspects of the knowledge on how earthquakes occur, behave and their impacts that underlie geology has formed the critical and modern understanding of earthquakes and related events. According to the scientists who were involved in the developing of the report, the intensity of the quake was stronger on the soft ground in comparison to the bedrock (Geist & Zoback, 2015). Therefore, this reality would inform the increased damage and shaking that occurred on the soft soils that were surrounding the San Francisco Bay. 

Moreover, by conducting triangulation surveys, the teams’ geologists were in a position to determine the displacement that comes about from the earthquake whereby they noted that the displacement was largest at the fault but continued to decrease as the distance increased from the fault. Further, this observation would play a pivotal role in the development of the elastic rebound theory of earthquakes which states that the earth will always stretch similar to a rubber band until the pressure is strong enough to break it, especially when there is a sudden release of energy (Geist & Zoback, 2015). Since the development of this theory, this basic description of what happens underground has formed the basis for which experts have been studying the plate movement in the creation of earthquakes across the globe. Over the years, subduction or plate movement has been causing increased strain on the “sticking points” in the crust. In such circumstances, the “sticking points” are considerably weakened and forced to release the built up strain. Prior to the development of this theory, scientists were not sure if earthquakes were causing faulting or it was faulting that was causing earthquakes.

Currently, there are over one thousand seismographs that measure minute shaking over the state of California where most of these go unnoticed or undetected by human beings (Geist & Zoback, 2015). Accordingly, the presence of an array of seismographs has played a significant role in the development of a subsurface model of fault systems as well as a clear understanding of which faults could lead to higher strain. In this way, experts have been able to comprehend the kind of faults that could potentially produce strong earthquakes including the possibility of earthquake occurrence as well as the expected shaking. 

However, it would be important to emphasize that since the occurrence of the detection of an earthquake is in nature, probabilistic, it has only been possible to limit detection to long term predictions, which is similar to a hundred-year flood forecasting (Geist & Zoback, 2015). Though there is the possibility of predicting if earthquakes will occur in a given region, it will never be possible to predict precisely the occurrence of any future earthquakes. Despite this reality, through the use of advanced computing power and monitoring systems, it is now possible to prepare in advance for future earthquakes. 

Based on the above observation, it is clear that the loss of property and life that was propagated from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake helped to have a unified front in the understanding of earthquakes (Geist & Zoback, 2015). This foresight is expected to assist scientists and geologists in mitigating such occurrences now and for many generations to come. 

How the Future of California Was Impacted

Besides the advancement made in the understanding of earthquakes in America, the 1906 earthquake changed the neighborhoods of San Francisco significantly (Geist & Zoback, 2015). Moreover, the fire that devastated the city after the 1906 earthquake had not only short term but also long term impacts on the use of land in California. Particularly, the 1906 earthquake was instrumental in removing some of the redevelopment barriers resulting into a higher density of residential buildings in the affected areas and the regions that were relative to the unburned areas in the city’s prominent neighborhoods. 

As the largest earthquake to hit San Francisco, the 1906 quake led to the destruction of more than twenty-eight thousand buildings. Besides, the fire also accounted for over eight percent of the total damage on the property from the earthquake (Chourasia et al., 2008). The good thing was that most of the damages done were insured and the San Francisco’s capital market was able to finance the reconstruction of the city comfortably. Notably, the efforts applied for the redevelopment would alter the city structure significantly. In this process, the developers would introduce denser housing in areas that were laid bare by the earthquake fire than those that were untouched by the disaster. 

The above differences in the housing density of the residential buildings would be replicated in different parts of the California state and would become the legacy that this local disaster left on the pattern land use in most of the urban areas (Geist & Zoback, 2015). In one of the recent studies in the Journal of Urban Economics , James Siodla, a Professor in the Colby College, demonstrated both the short term and long term effects of the 1906 Fire on the land use pattern in San Francisco and its neighborhoods by the use of disaster as a natural experiment (Rochman, 2015). In the study, Siodla compared the pre and post 1906 earthquake in both the razed and unburned areas. The objective of the study was to determine the role that was being played by durable buildings in California especially in San Francisco in delaying of redevelopment especially with increased demand for housing (Geist & Zoback, 2015). The second objective was determining if exogenous shocks that influence the timing of redevelopment had impacts that were long lasting in nature. 

The study findings showed that in the restricted sample, there was a gap between the unburned and razed areas regarding the residential density that had arisen upon redevelopment and still continued into the twenty-first century (Snyder, 2016). However, in the full sample of the study, which included other neighborhoods in California, the findings showed a decreased gap. Therefore, the study concluded that the closing of the gap on the residential density was due to the application and implementation of the large-scale initiatives by San Francisco which have now been adopted in different parts of the state. On the other hand, the redevelopment has made San Francisco and the California state earn world reputation as one of the tourist attractions in the United States. 

Conclusion

In reference to the above discussion, it is clear that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is a significant disaster in that it helped in the understanding of earthquakes in a better way. At the same time, the disaster led to redevelopment strategies that would give San Francisco and California a brighter future.

References

Chourasia, A., Cutchin, S., & Aagaard, B. (2008). Visualizing the ground motions of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Computers & Geosciences , 34 (12), 1798-1805. doi: 10.1016/j.cageo.2008.01.012

Geist, E. L., & Zoback, M. L. (2015). Analysis of the tsunami generated by the Mw 7.8 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Geology , 27 (1), 15.

Rochman, H. (2015). 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (Book). Booklist , 101 (15), 1381-1382.

Snyder, T. L. (2016). The Military Medical Response to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. Military Medicine , 181 (11), 1399-1400. Doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-16-00211