1906 San Francisco Earthquake Research Paper
Gabriel Sayegh
Mr. Rosser
Geology, Period 4
15 September 2011
1906 S.F. Earthquake Essay
The 1906 Great San Francisco earthquake is one of the worst earthquake’s to happen yet. The magnitude was believed to be about a 7.8 on the Richter scale. What made it so destructive wasn’t just the magnitude of the earthquake but the fact that the fires were uncontrollable. These factors led to the San Francisco quake to be know as a tragedy. San Francisco was a large city of a population of about four hundred thousand. Therefore because the city was so populated it made it harder for people to evacuate. The main source of evacuating people out of the city was a ferry provided for free. Since they didn’t have many freeways and bridges there was not many ways t evacuate beside the ferries. Comparing this to a future earthquake waiting to happen such as the San Andreas fault, it is going to be much more difficult to evacuate when that earthquake hits. The earthquake will destruct many of the freeways, bridges, and on-ramps. Previous earthquakes have shown us that those types of structures are vulnerable to the shaking. This means that trying to evacuate the city by car will be almost impossible and since we are not located right next to the ocean means that evacuating will put us in a dilemma. One factor that made the San Francisco …show more content…
By them not having any building codes most of the structures were built fast and cheap. They were not built to withstand an earthquake especially one of that magnitude. There were a several building that were built to be fireproof and earthquake proof only to find out that they weren’t. Since then building codes are being enforced. The one positive we have towards the San Andreas earthquake is that building codes have been enforced for a while. This will assure that not as many building will collapse as the 1906
Mr. Rosser
Geology, Period 4
15 September 2011
1906 S.F. Earthquake Essay
The 1906 Great San Francisco earthquake is one of the worst earthquake’s to happen yet. The magnitude was believed to be about a 7.8 on the Richter scale. What made it so destructive wasn’t just the magnitude of the earthquake but the fact that the fires were uncontrollable. These factors led to the San Francisco quake to be know as a tragedy. San Francisco was a large city of a population of about four hundred thousand. Therefore because the city was so populated it made it harder for people to evacuate. The main source of evacuating people out of the city was a ferry provided for free. Since they didn’t have many freeways and bridges there was not many ways t evacuate beside the ferries. Comparing this to a future earthquake waiting to happen such as the San Andreas fault, it is going to be much more difficult to evacuate when that earthquake hits. The earthquake will destruct many of the freeways, bridges, and on-ramps. Previous earthquakes have shown us that those types of structures are vulnerable to the shaking. This means that trying to evacuate the city by car will be almost impossible and since we are not located right next to the ocean means that evacuating will put us in a dilemma. One factor that made the San Francisco …show more content…
By them not having any building codes most of the structures were built fast and cheap. They were not built to withstand an earthquake especially one of that magnitude. There were a several building that were built to be fireproof and earthquake proof only to find out that they weren’t. Since then building codes are being enforced. The one positive we have towards the San Andreas earthquake is that building codes have been enforced for a while. This will assure that not as many building will collapse as the 1906