Comprehending The Calamity By Emma Burke And Emma Purquake

Imagine an earthquake twice a strong as the one that struck Okinawa in 2017. This horrifying event was followed by a fire that destroyed 25,000 houses and lasted for over three days. This earthquake happened in 1906 and was the first photographed earthquake in history. 3,000 people died and may more managed to capture this event in writing. Many people had varying opinions and accounts of this disaster. Two of these people were Fred Hewitt and Emma Burke. They shared their experiences and struggles in their writing. The articles “Comprehending the Calamity” by Emma Burke and “The Horrific Wreck of the City” by Fred Hewitt display different opinions of this earthquake, but both have a very subjective point of view. The articles “Comprehending the Calamity” by Emma Burke and “Horrific Wreck of the City” by
Hewitt had an opposing opinion which was obvious when he talked about how people were killed in this disaster. Another way that their differentiating views are seen is on page 4 of “Comprehending the Calamity” when Burke states, “All artificial restraints of our civilization fell away with the earthquake’s shocks. Every man was his brother’s keeper. Everyone spoke to everyone else with a smile.” And when Hewitt says, “For an hour more after that terrible shock, which shook the buildings of all San Francisco to the very foundations, people wandered about in an insane fashion. There was no attempt to hold the sufferers. People were stupefied as the inferno raged and reigned supreme.” This proves that Hewitt sees the fire and earthquake as a superior inferno of death, whereas Burke sees this as a way for people to how their best sides and help the community. The informational articles “Comprehending the Calamity” by Emma Burke and “Horrific Wreck of the City” by Fred Hewitt have distinctive views on the disaster and chaos of the 1906 San Francisco