April 2006 Archives

John Poyser

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Saturday was a fine day to get out and enjoy the nice weather and the beautiful Presidio, and to learn about what life was like in the refugee camps after the earthquake and fire. It was a really cool event that had a lot to teach. I'm not sure if I could handle living in those tents.

Enjoy the pictures.

There was also an Army marching band on hand. Click on the image below to catch the band in action.

Jane Po

You have gallons of water to drown your kidneys, cases of tuna fish to feed every stray cat in the block, and enough Band-Aids to rival a trauma center’s stash. But is your wallet ready to cover losses after the Big One hits? Maybe it’s easier to buy a ready-to-use first aid kit than to recharge the digital camera’s battery to create an inventory of one’s valuables. Or that it’s less painful to pull $14.99 out of one’s wallet to buy a flashlight than to shell out $$$ for an insurance policy. But for whatever reason, getting ready financially seems to be a low priority in disaster preparedness.

Perhaps you're expecting Uncle Sam to save you from financial doom. Bad news: he's not a member of the Justice League . FEMA individual assistance is capped at $26,200 . Try rebuilding your Bay Area cottage  with that!

There are things you can do to be financially prepared for a disaster. Like do an inventory of your valuables. Use a digital camera or camcorder to take pictures of your property instantly. Burn the images to a CD or move them to a flash drive . Besides being able to fit a gazillion bytes, a flash drive can be attached to a keychain  or worn as a fashion accessory . There are other things you can add to your flash drive: copies of your financial information and insurance policies. No flash drive? Store important info in your MP3 player . Many of these devices can actually hold non-audio data.

Technology is a great tool for financial readiness. If you don’t know how to create an inventory of your property, there’s software to help you get started. KnowYourStuff.org, a sister site of the Insurance Information Institute , offers free home inventory software  that you can download.

The American Red Cross has practical guidelines on financial preparedness . Check out Bankrate.com’s financial disaster preparedness kit , too. If you own your business, here’s a useful feature on Allbusiness.com entitled Special Report: Preparing for Disaster , with articles such as Plan for the Worst for Your Home-Based Business and Protect Your Business Assets from Disaster .

And then there’s the matter of insurance. Not quite sure about the ins-and-outs of insurance policies? Read this neat article from Smartaboutmoney.com  (not to be confused with Smart Money magazine, Smartaboutmoney.org is a project of the National Endowment for Financial Education ). It takes away the mystery behind all the fine print, and shows how to choose the right insurance coverage, how to understand an insurance policy, and what one needs to know about filing a claim.

Oh, one last thing, always have cash on hand. And I mean CASH. With or without a disaster, a $20 bill won't take you very far nowadays.

Sure, it’s fun to check out cool emergency gizmos than to spend a weekend dealing with checklists and documents. But look at it this way: with water, canned tuna, Band-Aids AND your finances all lined up, you won’t have to wait for a superhero to save you from the Big One.

Jane Po

I was Skype -chatting about the quake with my friend Norma , a wheelchair-bound disabled rights activist, when I asked, "How would YOU prepare for a disaster?" She gave me—Miz Insensitivity—one big DOH!

So, after enduring her scorn, I looked up FEMA’s Planning Guide for People with Special Needs . The guide lists the primary preparedness needs of the disabled—it’s a “first-steps” resource. But wait, there's more!

The American Red Cross offers two brochures: one for seniors —written by seniors who’ve survived a disaster—and one for the disabled . The senior guide is available in other languages . Preparenow.org’s guide  is similar to the Red Cross’, but adds a section on earthquakes.

The Red Cross of Rochester, New York has a manual on emergency preparedness for the hearing impaired . Likewise, the American Council of the Blind's web site offers a handbook targeted at the blind, the visually impaired, and first responders . The site also has an emergency preparedness page for service animal owners . Another great resource is the Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco’s site, which features no-frills preparedness tip sheets  for those with specific disabilities such as the wheelchair-bound and the mentally disabled. However, the site has display issues on the Firefox browser.

Availability of medication is always critical to people with special needs. The American Society of Health-System Professionals (ASHSP) has created a consumer bulletin  that addresses medication issues during a disaster. The Food and Drug Administration created a page aimed at diabetics , which is a good complement to the ASHSP’s consumer bulletin.

There are resources for caregivers, too. If you’re caring for an Alzheimer’s patient, you may want to register him or her with the Alzheimer Association’s SafeReturn® program , an identification service that provides assistance when a person with Alzheimer's or a related dementia becomes lost locally or far from home. The Department of Health and Human Services has an excellent preparedness page for caregivers and first responders . I wish, though, that the default font on the page were larger.

The National Next of Kin Registry , which provides a free emergency contact resource to individuals and to emergency agencies, is another service you might want to consider for the mentally disabled. Also, see if a local government agency in your area runs a voluntary registry for evacuating special-needs persons in case of disaster.

For emergency preparedness and response articles for the disabled in the workplace , go to Gallaudet University’s web site. The site also has articles for employers and emergency managers. Managers may also want to read the Department of Labor’s rules of emergency preparedness planning for people with disabilities .

I’m glad I had that conversation with Norma. She put up with my "foot-in-mouth disease," and made me realize that preparing for a disaster was not just for four-limb-abled people like me.

Jane Po

Earthquakes can be scary stuff, so how do you teach kids about them without sending them to therapy?

How about a game called Earthquake Joe  from Seattle's Project Impact ? Try to find a safe place in the room for Joe as a quake happens. It’s fun for all ages. Have to admit I got Joe pretty bruised up on this one. :( There are other games on the site’s Interactive  section, but they are more appropriate for grownups.

The Association for Bay Area Governments  (ABAG) web site has a Kids Zone . Its content is more appropriate for junior high, even if the site's design looks like it’s for younger kids. Information in various levels of complexity is thrown in all at once on the site’s main page, though. It needs to be broken down according to the age/schooling level of its audience.

National Geographic Kids  has a cool quake site . It contains easy-to-understand information on preparedness. It also features a video showing scenes of quake damage, with a rather serious soundtrack. Might scare young kids who are more accustomed to listening to Baby Beluga .

FEMA for Kids  is a pretty colorful site that covers everything disaster-related for kids. My favorite section, Tasty Quake , shows a gelatin recipe that doubles as a learning activity on ground movement. (Hmm, maybe I’ll make a grownup version of Tasty Quake. Add a little vodka, shake, don't stir.)

Speaking of stuff to do for the older set, here’s an easy one from the Exploratorium's Faultline  called Cookie Subduction . An Oreo is all you’ll need. The site has other excellent activities that use the most commonplace things to explain earthquakes. Like Slinkies .

PBS  also features an excellent companion site to its series called The Savage Earth . The earthquake section  contains animations that demonstrate slip faults and seismic waves.

My hands-down favorite is the US Geological Service’s Earthquake for Kids . Most of the sites in this post feature a section for teachers, but USGS’ version  kicks it up a notch—it's rich in online references which are searchable by topic and schooling level. One feature that really stands out is Earthquake ABC . Based on a grade school project, Earthquake ABC is a quake glossary enhanced with children’s drawings. It also comes with a separate teacher guide and parent guide.

Jane Po

(This is the second installment of the childhood account of "guest blogger" J.J. Conlon. In 1982, J.J. Conlon, whose career at Wells Fargo spanned 46 1/2 years, wrote his recollection of the 1906 earthquake. He seven years old when the disaster occurred.)

Mother, immediately informed of the seriousness of the situation, left Stockton on Wednesday morning for home with my sisters. She was told on reaching Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco that she could not continue. As she turned her back on the city of her birth to return to Stockton, the large pillars of smoke in the western sky multiplied the fears she was already harboring for the safety of her family and relatives. Later, on Saturday, she successfully returned home.

I was very much on my own during daylight hours after Father left for downtown. The first activity was to examine the damage to a building in the Children’s Playground in Golden Gate Park. My playmates and I were just leaving this partially-collapsed building about 8 a.m. when another sharp earthquake occurred and we witnessed a further collapse of the structure. Later, with older boys, I got as far downtown as Van Ness and Market, where a policemen, after questioning me, told me to return to my home district and stay there.

One-half mile east of our Shrader Street residence is hilly Buena Vista Park. The eastern slope had an unobstructed view of the 1906 city and it was from this vantage point that I watched the city burn for the next three days…

We were able to accommodate our refugees because of our large basement which was immediately partitioned by the men. Fires were not permitted in houses until chimneys could be inspected and approved, requiring waits up to nine months. Our men, like many San Franciscans, built an elaborate range from salvaged bricks and sheet iron on our front sidewalk and covered it with a lean-to roof. I have seen few modern barbecue pits that surpassed our sidewalk kitchen. Here the women cooked the food that was served in three sittings in our large, glass enclosed porch on the back of the house…

Mother was still a young wife, proud of her well managed household, with its new furniture and linens, etc. She philosophically accepted the wear and tear on her furnishings; personal relations were another matter. You can be sure there was the childless wife giving unsolicited and unappreciated advice to the harassed young mothers. The forced mingling of these relatives under trying conditions resulted in lasting friendships and/or relationships thereafter on a formal and distant basis. Regardless, a young boy enjoys company, old and young, and I was never happier.

Everyone, like our family, offered shelter to relatives and friends. Many were housed in tents and temporary buildings in parks and squares, Golden Gate Park accommodations being particularly impressive. The latter was like a summer resort and I enjoyed walking through the camp areas at night to watch the activities of the refugees around the bonfires. Another source of entertainment for the youngsters of our neighborhood was a periodic parade on Haight Street of a National Guard outfit, mobilized for police guard duty.

Mother provided a box lunch for Father and me about ten days after the fire was controlled and in a hired buggy, we made a day long tour of the burnt area of the city. I have many memories of that ride but one stands out. To save the California and Hyde Street cable cars , the employees parked them on the California Street tracks from Franklin to Hyde Streets. After the fire swept over them, only the wheel trucks remained with hand brakes and cable grips standing vertical.

Jane Po

On the opening day of the 1906 Earthquake Conference, I attended a tutorial entitled Earthquake Safety of Houses and Apartments: What Owners and Renters Need to Know. It was conducted by Andy Thompson of Arup , a global structural design and engineering firm. The tutorial was attended by structural engineers, building inspectors, geologists and safety inspectors.

The tutorial was a great lesson in what to look out for when buying or renting a home. Thompson presented 8 bullet points, which he called Eight Steps to Peace of Mind:

• Determine property location with regard to known active faults .
• Determine soil conditions. It helps to locate the property in water table and liquefaction maps .
• Determine landslide potential. The discussion was very timely in light of the recent landslides that have hit the Bay Area. It pays to locate the property on landslide maps . (Click image on upper left to view movie)
• Assess risk due to human-made hazards. See if the property is near dams, taller buildings and water tanks.
• Evaluate characteristics and detailing of your building 
• Examine home for hazards.
• Determine whether you need insurance .
• Follow the proper precautions before, during and after an earthquake .

Thompson points out that with today’s engineering breakthroughs, you can build anything anywhere if you’re willing to pay for it. But since we like to build where we shouldn’t, and most often are unwilling to pay the price, it’s great to have these guidelines in mind.

Jane Po

Yesterday, I attended a tutorial at the 1906 Earthquake Conference entitled "Emergency Response for Neighborhoods." The presentation was conducted by Douglas Hong of the Berkeley Office of Emergency Services  (OES). It was designed as a training session for folks who wish to organize their neighbors or communities for emergency preparedness.

The tutorial used the "train the trainer " approach. The method is not new to me, having used the same technique when I worked in AIDS/HIV prevention. Basically, what it calls for is to train a trusted member of a community to educate that particular community rather than have an outsider do it. It’s all about identifying who’s got creds, really, and the method works!

A few things stood out at the tutorial. I was impressed by how the information on preparedness was broken down not into 7, 10, or 15 steps, but into 5 easy-to-remember ones . As the Mr. Hong pointed out, it’s not easy to remember 10 steps in the middle of a panic. Another thing was how new technology figures into preparedness. For example, one recommendation was to include a flash drive  in a preparedness kit. The flash drive should store pictures of pets and valuables, scans of important documents such as insurance papers and policy numbers, and financial records. Programming important contact numbers on one’s cell phone was also recommended. Did you know that each city has its own emergency phone number, apart from the oft-dialed 911? Find out what the number is for yours and program that into your mobile. (Berkeley’s is 510-981-5911; here’s great link that tells you why this number is preferred .)

Also, one difference is that Berkeley recommends that one prepare for 5-7 days of emergency supplies instead of 72 hours. The city based this on the number of days it took for critical services to be delivered to Katrina victims. Makes total sense to me.

Douglas Hong was also kind enough to refer the audience to downloadable handouts on the Berkeley OES web site. He told the audience that they were free to use and customize these documents for their own communities’ needs. Now THAT’s being a good neighbor!

Jane Po

(Once again, we would like to welcome guest blogger Chris Poland, President, Degenkolb Engineers . His 30 years of professional experience include projects of all construction types—including new design, seismic retrofit and rehabilitation, and historic preservation. Chris routinely develops federal documents and national standards related to earthquake engineering. )

While many areas of California are better prepared than ever before, we are not yet ready for the next great earthquake. In fact, most experts in earth science, engineering, and emergency response have concluded that when a 1906-size earthquake happens again:

• Buildings and infrastructure built before the 1970s that have not been strengthened may suffer major damage or complete collapse. This will cause thousands of deaths and extreme economic hardship, and leave hundreds of thousands of residents homeless.

• Many businesses will be brought to a halt for weeks, some for months. The economic impact will be more than $100 billion. The economic effects will be felt worldwide, and it will take years to fully restore the epicenter’s business activities.

• Many families, businesses, and institutions with response and recovery plans in place will act safely; many others do not have adequate plans in place and will suffer.

Scientists led by the U.S. Geological Survey  recently created QuakeMotion , an animated visualization of how the earth moved in 1906. Combining that new data with updated information on the Bay Area’s buildings and infrastructure, a team of experts has developed the most comprehensive analysis yet of the deaths and damages we will sustain in a 1906-size quake. This report, released on April 17, will help guide policy-makers as they consider steps toward preparedness, mitigation initiatives, and resources for recovery.

Georgina Corzine

I had the pleasure of speaking with Dolissa Medina, an experimental filmmaker yesterday. I heard more about the world premiere screening of her new film that illuminates the events and ambience of the 1906 fire after the earthquake. Dolissa has been working on her film for about 4 years. She wanted to focus specifically on the ensuing fire, than the earthquake aspect, both caused incredible damage in San Francisco circa 1906. Her film will be screened outdoors at 8pm or sundown on Friday, April 21 st at 19 th and Folsom Streets. Site specific to her subject matter, the piece will be projected onto the SFFD Firefighter Training Tower at this location in the Mission District.

Dolissa has always been fascinated by San Francisco’s historical relationship to fire. She informed me that San Francisco had burned down 6 times before the 1906 fire. Appropriately, the mythological creature, the Phoenix is the official symbol for San Francisco and decorates the badges of the San Francisco fire and police departments. She approached the San Francisco Fire Department with the proposal and garnered their support for her film, which has fiscal sponsorship from Intersection for the Arts.

Throughout her ten interviews with San Francisco firefighters, Dolissa focused on their perspective on the historical legacy of fires in the city. The 30-45 minute film is more experimental storytelling than traditional documentary. There are no “talking head” shots accompanying the interviews. Instead she has created six vignettes that combine oral history, journalism, folklore and mythology genres that integrate with the poetic and impressionistic visuals of the burn zones.

Anne

It was my pleasure to interview author and retired librarian Milly Lee for this podcast episode. I first found out about her book, Earthquake, at the Reading the World conference  organized by the University of San Francisco in March of this year. As a lover of children’s books, I wanted to bring in that perspective to our podcast author interviews.  Learning more about Lee’s family connection to the 1906 earthquake makes the story that much more meaningful.

To learn more about the exhibit she references at the Chinese Historical Society of America, where her family alter which survived the earthquake is on display, visit their web site .

  

Jane Po

(The need for 24/7 preparedness in all sectors of society cannot be overemphasized in a disaster-prone zone like the Bay Area. Our guest blogger, Bruce Burtch, Director of Marketing & Communications for the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter  gives us an overview of the latest Red Cross program to address this issue.)

According to a recent American Red Cross Bay Area household preparedness survey, only 6% of residents in six Bay Area counties say they are prepared for a disaster. That’s why the American Red Cross Bay Area is calling on business, faith, non-profit, government and school to partner with them in the most comprehensive preparedness program ever launched in the Bay Area.

These partnerships will ensure that thousands of community preparedness trainings are available throughout the Bay Area. The campaign specifically focuses upon those most at risk in a disaster including: children, elderly, persons with disabilities, the homeless, people for whom English is a second language and low-income communities.

PrepareBayArea.org , an interactive preparedness community, will help ensure that individuals, businesses, schools and community organizations can easily access how-to tips for making a plan and building a kit and locations for community preparedness trainings. Those without web access can obtain information by calling 1-877-PREPBAY.

Mayors Gavin Newsom of San Francisco and Jerry Brown of Oakland have both promised their support. “People have to know that the government is not going to be there in the first 24 hours, maybe the first 48 hours,” said Brown. “It’s the people themselves that have to be responsible. So this is very, very important, that the Red Cross and all the other groups here, PG&E and the others, are spearheading this three-point plan of make a plan, build a kit and get trained.”

Jane Po

Yesterday, the US Geological Survey released three new types of maps of the Bay Area , each one designed to provide a new look at the geologic history and hazards of the region.

The first type, a geologic map, shows different geological materials visible at the earth's surface, and how these materials—such as fossils—are distributed across the Bay Area. Pretty cool. Think of it as viewing the earth's crust through a time machine. Using this map, I found out that the area where I live is home to mammal-age fossils .

The second type is the quaternary-active fault map (quaternary faults are faults that have slipped during the last 1.8 million years). Scientists believe that these faults are going to be the most likely source of major quakes. This map shows I live close to one in El Cerrito.

The last type, which I think will capture the imagination of Bay Area residents the most, is the liquefaction  map. Remember those movie scenes where the bad guy drowns in quicksand ? Your house is most likely to play that villain if you live in a liquefaction-susceptible area. I checked my 'hood on the map and whew! I'm in a low risk zone.

The site also includes downloadable versions of the maps, and overlays if you wish to view the maps on Google Earth .

Jane Po

While scouring the web for a video on home earthquake retrofitting, I stumbled upon this interactive quake preparedness quiz .

I took the test and I'm proud to announce that, after two months of reading up on earthquake preparedness, I scored 100 percent. :):):) On the other hand, I tried this earthquake reaction test  and, uh, didn't do so well. :(:(:(

Now, let's see how well you do.

Jane Po

The Romans may have their Fontana di Trevi , Londoners their Trafalgar Square , and Madrileños their Fuente de Cibeles . For us in the Bay Area, we have Lotta’s fountain. It’s not much of a sight to behold—it is made of cast iron, yet has a weird patina that seems to get polished only around April of every year. The lions’ mouths don’t spout water. On an ordinary day its basin might even hold discarded newspapers, cigarette stubs and chewed up gum. In the past, it unofficially turned into an "outdoor restroom."

The fountain’s history is quite interesting. It was a gift to the city from Lotta Crabtree , a famous entertainer during San Francisco’s Gold Rush years (Lotta was a protégé of the equally famous Lola Montez ). Lotta, who was the highest paid stage performer during her prime, retired at the age of 45. By then she had acquired a bit of a fortune, and many institutions benefitted from her largesse . Lotta's fountain was dedicated on Admission Day, September 9, 1875. It is the city’s oldest surviving monument.

There had been many attempts to move (and remove) the fountain in the past. Wells Fargo historian Marianne Babal referred me to an article from the San Francisco Chronicle dated June 10, 1974. The article describes the statue’s refurbishment and move to a few feet from the original location, partly because the fountain had been hit and damaged by swerving vehicles in its original location. There was also an attempt to restore water to its fountains at this time. Another article from the Chronicle dated December 2, 1998 , talks about another major restoration effort  on the fountain.

Lotta's fountain has also grown taller over the years. Originally 24 feet high, it was given an eight-foot extension in 1916 to conform to the height of the new street lights on Market Street.

Lotta’s fountain has its place in the history of this city. During the quake, it served as THE communications center for people who needed to find missing loved ones. While it may not scream DRAMA the way its foreign counterparts do (its look has been panned by expert critics and ordinary citizens alike), it served the residents of San Francisco like no other monument has.

Jane Po

Yesterday, John Poyser and I grabbed an early breakfast before resuming coverage of the SF Rising Parade. We went to Sears Fine Foods  next to historic St. Francis Hotel . Nothing like Swedish pancakes swimming in warm syrup to make one's appetite hit a 7.8. But check out their menu. Even the prices were in anniversary mode.

John Poyser

The mayor has been everywhere today. Everytime I turn around, there he is shaking hands with someone. It's such a strange thing to observe SF on this day with this mayor, and to think about and remember Mayor Schmitz and the corruption he brought this city.

The city seems truly happy today. We've seen the end of the rain—for the day at least, and everyone is enjoying Justin Herman Plaza with a "Remember and Prepare" attitude.

The end of the parade brought not only the mayor and his troupe but a variety of city union workers, paramedics, fire, trash, scottish pipe bands, and children's drum and pipe bands. The Gay Men's Chorus was on hand to sing in the Plaza dressed in black tuxes with lots of sun shining on their red rhinestone AIDS memorial ribbons. I was talking with one local restaurant owner who told me how difficult the weather has been on local businesses this past month.

It's amazing to think that this city actually has any outdoor business to consider considering how much we enjoy the fog... no businesses will be hurting today because of bad weather. I would suggest that everyone turn their computers off NOW, leave your desks NOW and come down here and enjoy this. It's like nothing we've seen before or are likely to see again. 100 YEARS!

Jane Po

Some images and movies to share. Who doesn't love horses? And fire engine RED?

Enjoy the quikflix (requires Quicktime ).

1. Old fire engines(mov)
2. Krazy kars(mov)

John Poyser

It's 4:20 and I'm cold. I've been up since 3:30, my cab was late and I'm panicked about the crush of people I can see ahead of me. I snapped on the TV on the way out the door to find a shot of 3000+ people crowded around Lotta's Fountain, and now that I'm there I can see there are more like 6000. But by the time I get to Market Street, I'm glad I'm there.

There were huge jumbotrons set up on four corners; the ferry building is whirling all colors of the rainbow; people in period costumes are running around; and there on the stage, in front of the fountain, are Mayor Newsom and 12 of the surviving Survivors. I'm gonna admit I'm a bit emotional (sob). I mean, how often does this happen?!

I decide to get a better look and take a right on Market to stand behind the press. Guess what everyone else wanted to do! Including the drunks that had been up all night long and people pushing their luggage down the street screaming, "I have to catch a plane. Get out of my way!" We all laughed. One guy lost it and screamed, "Hey, everyone is here to honor the coming together of the city in the face of a disaster and you're trying to pull everything apart."

As 5:12 came around there was an amazing minute of silence after which every siren and fire station alarm in the city was set off. Gavin Newsom introduced the survivors we were treated to one of them saying that she was cold and would be a lot better off and lot warmer with Gavin around. The crowd loved her! And her stories of being born and conceived in the refugee tents, as well as being raised by prostitutes. She explained that her father had owned a saloon that was destroyed by the fire and quake and that when her mother was working selling sandwiches, the women upstairs who were "always home" because of their work and were able to take care of her and raise her very well.

Now I've got to get ready for the earthquake relief cottage on Yerba Buena Lane. Then I'll head to the parade, which starts at 10:00 am. See you there!

My wife and I moved to the Bay Area about three-and-a-half years ago. We were sitting around one evening shortly after moving in when we felt a tremendous "thump," as if our house had been lifted a few inches and dropped.

We stopped and waited for the next thing to happen. And waited. And waited. Nothing but that thump. It didn’t even make the news.

Back where I grew up in central Minnesota—where glaciers gave the topsoil a crew-cut right down to the granite crust—the earth just doesn’t move this way. Welcome to quake country.

Back on the Minnesota prairie as a child, we didn’t have earthquakes, but we had tornadoes … twisters. We could always tell when one was coming: hot and muggy days would spur tremendous storms with whipping winds and torrents of rain. It was when the rain ended and calm had returned that you were most careful. More often than not, that’s when the twister would take shape, sometimes way back on the horizon, sometimes right overheard. Either way, it meant trouble. Families would talk about what to do if a twister was spotted. Get a cellar if you could, otherwise jump in a ditch and cover your head. I had a great-great grandfather get caught up in a twister. He was carried a quarter-mile and left on the ground with just a few cuts. Now that made the newspaper.

We didn’t fear tornadoes, but we sure had respect for them and, more importantly, people were ready to come to the relief of those less fortunate than others. Families whose farmsteads and businesses endured twister damage always had their neighbors there to help. It’s that same spirit of selflessness and hope and optimism that fueled the rebuilding of San Francisco, but it’s a spirit that shouldn’t lie dormant until a quake strikes again.

Jane Po

(Today, on the 100th anniversary of the Great Earthquake and Fire, we would like to welcome Chris Polard, President, Degenkolb Engineers . His 30 years of professional experience include projects of all construction types—including new design, seismic retrofit and rehabilitation, and historic preservation. Chris routinely develops federal documents and national standards related to earthquake engineering. )

As residents and businesses try to figure out how to prepare themselves for the next major quake, more than 2,500 scientists, engineers and preparedness experts will be gathering in San Francisco for the biggest earthquake conference ever held —starting on the 100th anniversary of the 1906 quake.

Here’s what we’re thinking about going into the 100th Anniversary Earthquake Conference is a central theme: while many areas of California are better prepared than ever before, we are not yet ready for the next great earthquake.

The conference will focus on three tracks to change that:

1. Develop a culture of preparedness.
2. Invest in reducing losses.
3. Ensure resiliency in recovery.

Over the past 100 years we’ve done a lot to reduce earthquake vulnerability. We’ve made major changes in planning, preparedness, building codes, education, and training. Scientists know more about the dangerous faults in California than ever before. Engineers know more about how to construct buildings and infrastructure that will withstand strong shaking and ground shifts. Policy makers, community leaders, businesses, emergency responders and the general public know they need to reduce damage and improve response.

The conference, April 18-21 at Moscone Center, is jointly convened by the California Office of Emergency Services , the Seismological Society of America  and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute .

Each day of the conference will begin with a joint multi-disciplinary plenary session devoted to the lessons learned from the great 1906 earthquake and the vision for reducing earthquake risk in the 21st century. Technical sessions, poster sessions, exhibits and tutorials will cover a wide range of topics of particular interest to practicing professionals, business managers and educators. More information is available on the conference web site www.1906eqconf.org

Anne

In case you haven’t heard, today is the actual 100th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. We invite you to join us at the Wells Fargo History Museum on 420 Montgomery Street for an Open House (Download file(PDF)). This is a drop-in event from 9AM – 5PM, and people can stay as little or long as they like.

You can check out San Francisco Is In Ashes: the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 exhibit, including the Make-a-Quake and Walk through the Ruins interactive elements. Wells Fargo historians and exhibit designers will be in the Museum space, available to answer questions and provide drop-in tours. The opportunity will be available for you to record your thoughts and reflections on the day: what does the 100th anniversary day mean to you, where you around when Loma Prieta hit in 1989 or do you have an earthquake memory. Some visitor comments may be included in a future podcast. We will also be having a raffle throughout the day with a preparedness theme, so you may leave with something to help you feel a little more ready for the next “big one” (need not be present to win). Plus, we’ll have all the usual Museum activities available: audio tour, self-guided tour, Treasure Hunt activity for young visitors, stagecoach body you can crawl into to see what a ride might feel like. We hope to see you there!

Anne

It felt good to get the first podcast uploaded yesterday. The time that has gone into writing, recording, and editing is finally manifesting into a tangible product. In this episode, San Francisco Is In Ashes #2: behind the scenes of the exhibit, you get to hear a little about how the exhibit came together. Wells Fargo Historian Marianne Babal and Curator Charles Riggs describe how they approached the exhibit. Many people may not realize what has to happen at the desk of the designer or in the physical Museum space before the folding screens are moved to reveal *magic* on opening day. Once you have a sense of this, you may not be able to visit a Museum in the same way.

Whenever I go to another Museum (cultural site, theme park…wherever) I can’t help but analyze the exhibit design or the way finding system or scribble notes about great concepts to try later. It ends up driving many of my visit companions crazy! One thing everyone can agree on about our exhibit is that the interactive “Make A Quake” activity is a hit. Whether you want to analyze how it works or just hop on and start shaking – it’s fun.

  

Jane Po

Gennie Pollock's post is a moving account of her great grandfather's expression of gratitude to his new country. She has other great things to say about him: "Pretty dapper guy, huh? Get a load of that handlebar mustache. He was also wearing some serious spats in this photo." Gennie is with Small Business Marketing, Wells Fargo, Diamond Bar, and has been with the bank for 30 years.

In 1906, after word of the tragedy in San Francisco reached Southern California, my great-grandfather was saddened to hear what had befallen the citizens of San Francisco. Having married my great-grandmother in 1905, this young newlywed traveled long and hard, without his young bride, to San Francisco to see what he could do to help. He was not an educated man, but was strong and worked well with his hands.

Upon arrival, he was devastated by the mass destruction done to this great city. He was moved to see so many people who had been left homeless. He found his way to the work camps and was assigned a tent in the temporary tent city set up for all the workers who had come for jobs.

An Italian man who set up two planks on a wharf and set up a cart in the middle of the street and continued his business by lending money to those who needed a loan particularly impressed him. The man’s name was Amadeo Peter Giannini and was the president and owner of the Bank of Italy.

He worked and toiled for two months to help clean up the destruction and to contribute to the manpower needed to rebuild the city. His family in Los Angeles needed him to return. When he left, he was offered an envelope with wages for his two months of labor. He refused the pay, saying that they had already provided a roof over his head and meals. He had not traveled so far for a job or wages, but to thank this great state for allowing him to come from his poor town in Mexico to this land of great opportunity. It was a small token of his appreciation for allowing him to live here. He refused the payment and asked them to return it to the people of San Francisco. He then returned home to be with his family in Los Angeles.

My great-grandfather, Rosendo Villanueva, died in 1955 at the age of 75. He attained his citizenship to this great country and never returned to his homeland. Today my mother is the matriarch of our family and we are 5 generations strong. A living tribute to a selfless man. A gentle man with a big heart who was a grateful man.

Jane Po

Allen Schwoob's story came to us by way of a comment he sent to John Poyser’s post. In his email he says, "My family's connection to the Quake makes me appreciate what happened last summer in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina." Allen is with International Treasury Management, Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco.

My grandfather's family name is Braas. The Braas family were German immigrants. He was 7 years old at the time of the quake. They owned a furniture store and made furniture here in SF . The old family home still stands on 17th Street.

They had a ranch in Napa and were out of town when the earthquake hit.

At the time, my grandmother was 5 years old. Her family name was Scott. Her grandfather supposedly moved to SF from Boston as an engineer working for Hallidie  laying the original cable car lines.

The Scott family home burned during the fire. They then relocated to Golden Gate Park and lived in a tent city. My great grandmother died in that tent in Golden Gate Park due to drinking contaminated water. I'm guessing that in reality her death was due to her contracting typhoid  from that water. She's buried down in Colma at Holy Cross.

My great grandfather became distraught and took to drinking, leaving his four boys and daughter to pretty much fend for themselves. My family owned a lot of property, which he began to sell off to buy alcohol. The family fortune ended up being squandered. The oldest boys looted from the ruins to get money, which they had to conceal from him, to buy food. The boys all ended up being put into an orphanage because he couldn't take care of them. My grandmother went and lived with her spinster aunt.

Jane Po

Tyler Bowling was one of the first Team Members to respond to our call for stories. “I remember when I was younger hearing my Great Grandmother’s first hand account of the earthquake. I would consider it an honor if you were to add this account to the site.” He works as a Personal Banker for Wells Fargo Bank in Baker City, Oregon.

Lola Opal Morin was born in 1896 in Baker County, Oregon. She was the 16th of 18 children. The death of an older sister resulted in the decision to move away from Oregon. The family relocated near Sacramento, California along the banks of the Sacramento River.

In Sacramento, the nearest neighbor was a Japanese family whose children were close in age to Lola and her brothers. Lola enjoyed her friendship with this family and learned some of their language. She could even count in Japanese and she could recite the Japanese alphabet forward and backward.

Lola’s memories of April 1906 remained vivid throughout her life. She was in the house with her mother and her younger brother, Albert, when the house began to shake and dishes rattled. Plates fell from the plate rack lining the dining room wall and a single light bulb on a cord extending from the ceiling swung violently back and forth until the earthquake began to subside. The earthquake seemed very strong in Sacramento, but produced much greater devastation in San Francisco. Lola was terribly frightened and clung to her mother. Her parents were shaken with the realization that others suffered great loss during the earthquake and they were aware of how fortunate they were to have escaped injury or death. Her father was also distressed at the loss of a weeks worth of produce as the Sacramento River had overflowed its banks and flooded his storage bins during the Big Flood of 1906. Within weeks he made plans to pack his family and they returned to Oregon.

Over time, most of the family who had lived in Sacramento moved to Baker City in Eastern Oregon. Lola lived most of her life in Baker City, where she lived to be 93 years old, living longer than her parents and all of her 17 siblings. To the end of her life, she could still count and recite the alphabet forward and backward in Japanese.

Jane Po

One of the questions I asked when I first started working on this blog was "what happened to Chinatown?" I must admit I knew the more popular events that occurred during the quake, but never really paid much attention to the details.

I did not know that prior to the quake, there were already plans to displace the Chinese and to relocate Chinatown to Hunters Point . I did not know that the residents who lived in the vicinity of the Presidio golf links, upon learning of the Chinese refugee camp in that area, "objected to the establishment of the Oriental quarter so close to their homes, where the summer zephyrs would blow the odors of Chinatown into their front doors ," so the refugees had to be re-moved to Fort Point. I did not know that the catastrophe would be an opportunity for racism to rear its ugly head  once more.

But, as the popular saying goes, “Money talks.” Upon realizing that the city stood to lose a pretty big chunk of change—if Chinatown were to be moved to Hunters Point, the Chinese would have to pay taxes to San Mateo and trade with Asia was already lucrative by then—the proponents of Chinatown’s relocation lost momentum  and the rest is history

Jane Po

(This week we will feature a "guest blogger" from the past, J.J. Conlon. In 1982, J.J. Conlon, whose 46 1/2 year career started with started with the Wells-Fargo Nevada National Bank and ended with the Wells Fargo Bank, wrote his recollection of the 1906 earthquake. He seven years old when the disaster occurred. His father, a fire battalion chief with the San Francisco Fire Department, figures prominently in his account.)

His story, so rich in detail, belies the saying "children should be seen and not heard."

To General Doolittle’s brave flyers, it is the anniversary of their 1942 Tokyo Raid; to Bostonians, it is the date of Paul Revere’s famous ride; but to a generation of San Franciscans, April 18th is the date of an earthquake at 5:13 on a Wednesday morning in 1906; one era in the city’s history came to an end and another started.

Thereafter, events were referred to as “before” or “after” the Fire. The earthquake, responsible for the fire, was a secondary matter. As a seven-year-old boy, free of parental control for three days, I enjoyed the excitement of the disastrous events around me without comprehending their consequences.

I belong to that group of sons whose fathers were called on that morning for a prodigious effort in their respective fields of activity. Father was a Battalion Chief in the San Francisco Fire Department. Like most sons, proud of their fathers, I would have questioned mine at an older age concerning his personal actions and experiences during that trying period. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Death does not respect rank in the Fire Service. Only a few years later, as First Assistant Chief of Department, he was killed at a fire.

There was never any question in my mind as to the severity of the earthquake at 5:13 on that Wednesday morning. I was awakened from a sound sleep by the shaking of my bed and the house. Father herded Flossie, my brother and me into a doorway for protection in the event the house collapsed; actually it was only slightly damaged. Within moments, during this period of the city’s greatest emergency, the unusual silence of the alarm bell told its own story. The system was destroyed as was the functioning of the city’s 30,000 telephones. For once, and tragically so, the cries of trapped victims for help, generally referred to the Fire Department for attention, could not instantly activate rescue crews.

About 7:30 that Wednesday morning, I heard 30 Engine leave their quarters with bells ringing and that was the last we were to see of them until late on the following Friday night. At almost the same moment, Father stopped his buggy in front of our house, got out and took Flossie, my brother and me across the street to a Mr. Levy. He told this fine gentleman that he had been ordered downtown with the remainder of his Battalion to help battle the flames now raging because of the destruction of the water mains, and asked if he could leave his family in Mr. Levy’s care, which, of course, he could. The Battalion deployed in the South of Market area where its companies, with others, were able to save the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot, subsequently important in getting supplies into the city. A channel from the Bay made this victory possible; the remaining fire battle was a slow, three-day retreat to the heart of the Mission District where the flames in that part of the city were finally controlled.

The morale of the 1906 firemen was severely strained because they were on duty at the moment of the earthquake and so continued until the flames were controlled. Few lived in the immediate vicinity of their firehouses, particularly those downtown. Minutes after the earthquake, most were in action and immediately aware of the magnitude of the disaster as they went about the grim task of rescuing victims from collapsed buildings and attempting to quell flames without water. Few knew the fate of their own families and for three days and nights they were to fight on with this gnawing concern on their minds. Two were killed. It is agreed they did their duty magnificently. The residences of 300 of the 600 firemen were destroyed and their fellow firemen throughout the nation sent $18,000 in relief funds, the New York City firemen being particularly generous.

Jane Po

As the week of the 100th anniversary of the Great Earthquake and Fire approaches, Guided By History is proud to present three guest posts from our own Team Members. These accounts are part of a continuing narrative as begun by Lucy Miller, Frederick Lipman, and other members of Wells Fargo's past. The perspectives may be different, but whether they tell of a loss or a celebration of one's new life, the stories are bound together by a deep sense of gratitude.

Jane Po

I love folklore. Tell me a fantastic tale on why the moon has holes and I’ll devour it like Kronos chews his kids . I feel the same way about earthquake myths.

The Native-Americans of Northern California, for example, say that Earthquake is a man with supernatural powers . Earth moves when Earthquake runs. Earthquake’s traveling buddy is Thunder. Other peoples like to blame quakes on angry gods, too . Misbehave and some vindictive deity will make the ground eat you up.

Some cultures attribute earthquakes to subterranean animals . The animal may be a dog (Siberian), giant frog (Mongolian), dragon (Chinese) or, in the case of the Japanese, a ginormous catfish (YUM!). The animal is usually upset, sleepy, playful or scratching an itch. One Hindu myth says that quakes happen when one of the eight elephants supporting the land grows weary and cricks its neck to find relief.

And then there’s urban lore . Take "earthquake weather ." My mom, who studied math and physics, still swears by it. What about "steam theory?" Planetary alignment  (paging Miz Cleo)? And how about the one where the ground swallowed the dog? No, not just THE dog, swallowed his master, too. Did a sea of roaches crawl out of your drain last night?

I think it’s far more intriguing to listen to a story of a yawning dragon than, say, attend a lecture on (yawn) plate tectonics . I like the way myths mix romance and fear with a big dollop of innocence... By the way, was it hot and dry in April ’06?

Jane Po

We look at doctors as gods. We think of them as distant and arrogant, wielding mythical powers of life over death. But beneath the white gowns, beyond the esoteric specializations and the hieroglyphics on the prescription pad are ordinary people who, like the rest of us, are moved by the human condition.

Dr. George Blumer was a physician who had just moved to and established his practice in San Francisco in 1905. He volunteered his services to the Central Emergency Hospital on the day the quake struck. He found himself shuttled to three different places, as each makeshift hospital collapsed or burned. Here’s what he said while at the Mechanics Pavilion  (from the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco ):

I had been at work only about ten minutes when I heard someone yell "the roof is on fire." Somehow a policeman got up on the cross-beams below the rafters from the inside of the building and managed to put the fire out. It was only ten or fifteen minutes before a new fire started in another part of the roof. Dr. Hassler wisely decided that the patients must be evacuated promptly and this was done by calling in volunteers from the street and commandeering passing automobiles... We managed to get all the living patients safely out before the fire got too hot, but about twenty dead in one corner of the building could not be removed and were cremated.

Now read "Amy’s" story, a doctor who served during Hurricane Katrina (from WebMD ):

Anyway, the patients were so sick. They hadn't had their medications for days, along with no food and water. But they were so thankful for the treatment they were getting and were so patient about having to wait so long. They were just so grateful to be in Houston. I had to hold back tears so many times at how horribly these people had been ravaged by this storm and what it had done to their lives. My toughest patient of the night was a young man who began seizing in the waiting area -- where he had been waiting for over 12 hours after getting off his bus. He had a grand mal seizure for over three minutes, hitting his head hard on the concrete floor when it started. I was the only doctor around at the time, so I had to step up to the challenge. There was no patient chart, no family with him, and no one knew anything about him... He also hadn't had anything to eat for four days.

Two doctors separated by a century, facing similar challenges, expressing the same frustrations, being human.

Jane Po

The whole question of "lessons learned" has been in my mind for quite some time. There are times when I wonder if human beings are truly creatures of folly or, to take the question further, whether we like to imagine that there are indeed lessons to be learned by coming up with contrived comparisons between past and present.

In my quest for answers, I stumbled upon this article from Businessweek . Entitled San Fran's Lessons for New Orleans, it compares the social, political and economic conditions in San Francisco during the quake of '06 with New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and looks at San Francisco as inspiration for New Orleans' reconstruction. Special attention is given to San Francisco's mass temporary housing as a possible template for sheltering New Orleans' displaced . It’s an interesting read, especially when compared with this assessment  presented by University of California Irvine Economics Professor Mason Gaffney .

Jane Po

Looking for historical information can be quite addictive. Ask our designer John Poyser. He’s already invested quite a bit of his income in a local bookstore, mainly to feed his need for anything related to the ’06 earthquake.

I should talk. I’ve been as hooked as John is on all things earthquake since this blog started. We’ve both "run into each other" online late at night while trolling the web for earthquake trivia, photos, books, you name it. Lately, however, I’ve been itching to start my own little collection, perhaps because I’ve been feeling a bit lazy to make evening treks to the UC Berkeley Library , and clicking a mouse has become too tedious. Plus, there’s nothing quite like being able to say, "IT’S MINE." So I turned to the cyber-garbologist’s  playground known as eBay .

I got on the web site and searched for "San Francisco Earthquake 1906." Today, 3:38 p.m. Tuesday, there were 98 items that matched my search string. Taking out “1906” from the string yielded 176! Most of the items are postcards or books, with prices starting at less than a dollar. Every once in a while, however, a semi-rare object turns up—like this album of photos  or this set of stereoviews . How about this one, a Red Cross badge from ’06  with an opening bid of $199? Hmmm, at those prices, forget it. I'm going back to the web .

Jane Po

Taking advantage of last weekend's sunny weather, I made my way to the Oakland Museum  to view Aftershock! Voices from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire . 4000 square feet of museum space was dedicated to the exhibit, which features more than 250 artifacts and photographs.

A slideshow with film clips and still photographs on pre-earthquake San Francisco greets you as you enter the hall. While the slideshow’s narration talked about San Francisco’s burgeoning economy it did not shy away from discussing the rampant corruption in city government—on the day before the quake, orders of arrest for the mayor and the entire board of supervisors  were issued in connection with the greatest corruption investigation in US history .

The exhibit doesn’t just dwell on the historical aspect of the event; it also covers related topics such as earthquake science and earthquakes in popular culture. There’s a quake "shake table" housed in a faux Victorian room (the magnitude of the “quake” went up to a 4.5, moderate yet strong enough to make me consider selling my house). A montage featuring movie clips from camp classics such as the Clark Gable/Jeanette MacDonald starrer, San Francisco , and the 1974 Sensurround  blockbuster Earthquake  was hilarious. And the section dedicated to earthquakes in pop culture (examples included eponymous local sports teams and TV ads, such as happy cows in the midst of a quake pushing California cheese ) lent a humorous note to what would otherwise be a depressing show.

What really spoke to me in this exhibit was the voice it gave to communities whose narratives were silenced during the upheaval. The African-American, Chinese-American and Japanese-American communities, immigrants from all over, and the working class were represented through rare accounts and artifacts. The story of Makato Hagiwara, the landscaper who designed the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park, is a moving tale of recurring displacement and discrimination—a timely subject in light of the current debate on immigration. Just as relevant are the accounts on Chinese "paper sons " and the attempt to relocate Chinatown, and the migration of African-Americans from San Francisco to Oakland. I’ll elaborate on these stories in my posts this week.

I hope you'll find the time to see this exhibit. I highly recommend it. Aftershock! Voices from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire runs April1-August 13, 2006 at the Oakland Museum of California .

Jane Po

In a previous post, I asked if history truly repeated itself, given how disastrous events mirror themselves across time. The more I read up on disaster management, the more I’m sure that something other than karma (very Californian, no?) that’s at work.

Maybe it’s man’s sheer stubbornness that makes every disaster repeat itself. We build on landfill, on steep hillsides, on top of fault lines. We take a very blase attitude toward recurring natural disasters, even turning them into fodder for late-night-show humor. We will not concede to hurricanes or forest fires. We have no problem building an entire city on a flood plain. We seem to be oblivious to past lessons, needing to be constantly reminded of the risks we take and its consequences.

Here’s an Washington post op-ed piece by George Will . I think there's a lesson in it somewhere. Or maybe not. ;)

John Poyser

Stories of my family’s 1867 arrival in San Francisco from Germany never really made it to my generation. There were stories of how strict and stern both my great-great Grandmother and Grandfather were. "Mach schnell, Kinder" was apparently one of their favorite scolds, according to my father. We got a few stories of their lives in San Francisco, how my great grandmother was one of the first women in the City to get a driver’s license, but no serious discussions about the earthquake, fire or their eventual departure to Ross in Marin County.

Trying to piece the details of the lives of my ancestors together was not easy, but it’s been interesting. In the Historical Services’ collection there’s an amazing book written in 1892 about San Francisco families. I’d heard of it, seen parts of it online, but never held the actual book. It was amazing. Putting it together with what I already knew, I’ve been able to learn something more about what it might have been like for my family as they attempted to establish themselves here.

At the time of the earthquake, my great-great grandfather and his sons were Commission Merchants  and their business, Louis Zeiss and Sons, was located on the corner of Clay and Drumm Streets—across from the current location of Embarcadero Four. Why don’t we still own that?

I have a photo—for some reason I have the crummiest copy in the family—that shows my grandfather and uncles standing in front of their store with ruined buildings all around them. We were always told their building stood and everyone elses fell and burned. It was their great German pride that held the building up and saved it from destruction. Since working on this blog I’ve found that that couldn’t be true and this picture must be of their rebuilt store. An interesting detail about the ‘06 Earthquake is that it’s believed the fire may have started on Davis and Drumm—very very close to where this business was. For all I know, it could have started in their store.

Jane Po

A week ago, I was trolling the web for "party supplies" when I found this ! Hotaling Whiskey has been revived to commemorate the '06 earthquake! My quake-blogging liver went all a-quiver at the thought of "SINGLE MALT SOUVENIR BOOZE!" But there’s another reason why I got all super-excited over the news about Hotaling Whisky’s comeback. This turn-of-the-century hootch holds iconic status in SF earthquake lore.

One of the few buildings left standing after fire  was AP Hotaling & Co.’s distillery! To celebrate this miracle, the poet Charles Kellogg Field wrote:

If, as they say, God spanked the town
For being over frisky,
Why did He burn the churches down 
And save Hotaling's whiskey?

The ditty made the rounds and became part of quake history . But the Hotaling story doesn’t end there. Even more interesting is that the distillery’s survival is a paean to great disaster management . Read with reverence (from The Argonaut/Virtual Museum of San Francisco):

But as for the entire block in which is the warehouse of A. P. Hotaling & Co., it seems to have been saved principally by the efforts of this firm. The military... granted permission to the manager of the firm to remain with his men. It even permitted him to remove from the warehouse on Thursday over one thousand barrels of whisky which were placed under guard in the excavation to the east of the Appraisers' Building. The employees of this firm were further permitted to bring from the pool in this excavation four or five 60-gallon puncheons of water and distribute them along the front of the block. They were also permitted to employ a hundred men who stood guard upon the roof. and At (sic) other exposed places when the fire crept up from the north on Friday afternoon, and who then successfully fought it back. The value to the firm of A. P. Hotaling & Co. of the favors they received at the hands of the military may be faintly suggested by the fact that the establishments of other liquor dealers in the same block were looted of their valuable contents as were restaurants and saloons in the Montgomery Block not destroyed by fire, while the firm of A. P. Hotaling & Co. lost nothing.

IMAGINE! Without the manager’s foresight, A.P. Hotaling would've been ONE BIG MOLOTOV COCKTAIL !

Ed Terpening

Mayor Gavin Newsom  today initiated a new program to distribute emergency drinking water to San Francisco residents after a major earthquake or disaster and highlighted the City’s comprehensive Emergency Drinking Water plans...Newsom painted a blue "water drop" on the first of sixty-seven fire hydrants connected to major potable water  mains throughout the City.

Lotta's Fountain, 1906 Courtesy of Wells Fargo Archives

Lotta's Fountain, 2006 Courtesy of Ed's Nokia 6230

John Poyser

The Sylmar Earthquake  struck the Sylmar/San Fernando Valley area at 6:01 a.m. on February 9, 1971. The quake caused $500 million in property damage and 65 deaths. Hospitals suffered a lot of damage, including the Veterans Administration Hospital which collapsed.

Here are a couple of accounts, taken from Wells Fargo News, from Team Members who were around when it happened. (Because we're based in the West Coast, chances are we'll be good for earthquake stories for another hundred years.)

(Panorama City Office Vice President and Manager) Sherman McKissock had an 8 a.m. Chamber of Commerce meeting... The Chamber meeting was to be on the 8th floor of a Van Nuys building. Entering the structure, McKissock saw that the elevators were out of operation and, with considerable caution, made his way up a stairwell that bore numerous cracks. "The whole place had a bombed-out look. In the 8th floor meeting room I went to a window and looked out—I could see my branch from there. Just then there was a big after-shock... we left."

Arriving at the branch, McKissock saw that the plate glass windows were smashed across the front of the building and completely out in spots, exposing the banking interior to sidewalk traffic. There were numerous structural cracks inside and out; one crack half an inch wide zig-zagged down one corner of the building.

One Team Member was at home when the quake hit.

Commercial Savings Teller Diane Colgrove managed to get out of her apartment house in Tujanga after it had broken in half, but didn’t feel up to coming to work. She was going to miss her television set and stereo which had flown off shelves and been broken.

Marianne Babal

In the days immediately following the quake of '06, Wells Fargo's headquarters temporarily took up residence in Oakland. With San Francisco cut off, there was quite a backup of material to be moved to and from the stricken area. Wells Fargo President Dudley Evans issued a circular to agents authorizing them to receive and transport money, clothing and supplies intended for the relief in San Francisco and surrounding area free of charge.

The company delivered a variety of relief goods to the Episcopal Church in San Francisco: clothing from all over, altar supplies from Maine and New York City, and twelve boxes of carpenters’ tools from nearby Corte Madera. A hastily organized relief committee in Livermore, California shipped out 2,600 loaves of bread, 2,500 dozen hard-boiled eggs, 700 pounds of butter and 50 pounds of cooked meat via Wells Fargo the week after the quake.

Of the company's 500 employees in San Francisco, half lost their homes and possessions. They were paid their full salaries in coin (people were wary of paper money back then). Local fellow employees and the express industry sent funds for their relief, following the example of Wells Fargo employees in Boston, who wired $150 to their counterparts in San Francisco following the disaster.

Jane Po

A sense of humor was not an option, it was a necessity.

This line, taken from one of the showcase notes, summarizes the exhibition called How To Survive An Earthquake: A Humorous Look At San Francisco, 1906 . Housed in a mock refugee tent, the exhibit features books, photographs, and artifacts from the San Francisco Public Library’s Schmulowitz Collection of Wit and Humor  (SCOWAH).

Humor takes on a wider meaning in this show. Beside joke books that were popular during the day, we are treated to ephemera which illustrate pastimes that may have made the people forget the misery that surrounded them: a Sutro Baths  poster, restaurant menus, and programmes for sporting and theater  events. Boxing was YOOOOJ! A section of the show was dedicated to boxing memorabilia. Prizefights made a comeback in this city barely a month after the quake.

One eye-catching part of the exhibit was a blown-up picture of refugees sitting in front of a tent which bore a sign that said “House of Mirth.” The tent had other wooden signs that made fun of the wretched situation.

After being inundated with ’06 commemorative articles about San Francisco’s dim past and gloomy, earthquake-doomed future, I found it refreshing to have visited this and the marriage project exhibits. Maybe I’m one of those Bay Area residents who are in denial, but I prefer to look at stories of survival and resilience. I belong to a stubborn lot—we’ve lived through quakes, fires, landslides and economic recessions, and we've manage to come out stronger than before.

How To Survive An Earthquake: A Humorous Look At San Francisco, 1906 will be on display April 1-May 31 in the Skylight Gallery at the San Francisco Public Library .

Jane Po

Is the city of San Francisco prepared to respond to another major catastrophe? What lessons did the city government learn from past disasters? Will its residents face a scenario like Katrina ? These questions come to mind as the 100th anniversary of the Great Earthquake and Fire approaches.

Listen to a webcast of an interview with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom , as he discusses the city's emergency response plan  on National Public Radio's  Morning Edition.

Ed Terpening

Hidden in the drawers of the historic home  of one America's most famous writers and adventurers were found negatives of photographs of the aftermath of the Great Quake and Fire. Taken by Jack London , many of these photographs have found their exclusive first-showing at the California Historical Society  in San Francisco. We've shown lots of images in this blog—taken from insurance adjusters and ordinary citizens—but these are among the most well composed images available. Thankfully, you'll see more than images at this show: there are also excerpts from the Londons' letters.

The photographs in the exhibit are accompanied by the diary of Jack London's wife, Charmain. I just know that if blogging were around in 1906, the Londons would be right in there. According to Guest Curator Philip L. Fradkin , author of "The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906," they sounded like a very hip couple:

Charmain and Jack, like San Francisco, radiated gaiety and vibrancy before the disaster, or at least that was how they were portrayed. They had just been married. Jack was intensely proud of his new wife's endurance and strength. They rode horses together, boxed, were a writing team (he scribbled on paper and she typed), and they called each other mate.

As one of the first writers to cover the great quake and fires, London described what the firestorm  was like, as viewed from a ferry in the bay:

At that time I watched the vast conflagration from out on the bay. It was dead calm. Not a flicker of wind stirred. Yet from every side wind was pouring in upon the city. East, west, north, and south, strong winds were blowing upon the doomed city. The heated air rising made an enormous suck. Thus did the fire of itself build its own colossal chimney through the atmosphere. Day and night this dead calm continued, and yet, near to the flames, the wind was often half a gale, so might was the suck.

Creepy, isn't it? But let's end a on a fun note: according to Wikipedia : "Jack London appears briefly as a character at the end of Star Trek: TNG episode Time's Arrow, Parts II  as a hotel employee. Mark Twain  advises him to go to Alaska." Makes sense to me :-)

PS. Did you get the reference to "The Clash ?"

Jane Po

Did you know that from the day of the quake of ’06 to 30 days after, 600 marriages were performed in the counties of San Francisco, Marin, and Alameda? And that many of them—415 to be exact—were performed by County License Clerk Grant Munson, a number so large that he was nicknamed "Cupid" by the local media? Or, get this, that quite a few divorced couples  actually remarried after reuniting in refugee camps ?

The spate of matrimonial ceremonies that followed the quake is the focus of the exhibit entitled San Francisco 1906 Earthquake Marriage Project , which was assembled by SFGenealogy.com  and hosted by the City Assessor-Recorder’s Office . The collection featured is not an extensive one. It consists of a collage featuring excerpts of wedding announcements from old newpapers, a few old wedding photos, and a reproduction of a marriage license from the era. I look at the exhibit as more of a companion piece to this fascinating website .

There is not one simple explanation for the phenomenon. Maybe it was love, or companionship, a need to move on, or just plain pragmatism—the plans have been set and all the guests are in town. There is even a modern-day study to explain why people like to get hitched after a great upheaval by looking at divorce, marriage and birth rates after Hurricane Hugo . Who knows?

San Francisco 1906 Earthquake Marriage Project runs through the end of April at the Office of the Assessor-Recorder, San Francisco City Hall .

Jane Po

This weekend, in an attempt to expand my earthquake I.Q., I came upon this page  on the US Geological Survey website. It features simulations illustrating ground motion on both sides of the San Andreas fault, and how seismic waves radiated away from the fault to produce ground shaking during the 1906 quake.

You can also take close-up views by Bay Area city, or compare the ground motion between the '06 and Loma Prieta quakes. I found the simulations quite hypnotic, almost like the spacey feeling you get when peering too long into a kaleidoscope.

Do you want to see more? Check out this site , which uses USGS' technology to simulate how different Bay Area landmarks would shake if they were subjected to the 1906 quake. Creepy.

Jane Po

The Whittier earthquake struck at 7:42 a.m. on a weekday, when most people were headed for or at work. If you’re a member of the workforce, chances are you spend between 20-40 hours of your week outside your home. Should an earthquake hit while at the office, how prepared would you be?

Most often we rely on supplies in the office emergency cabinets. However, there might not be enough medical goods to go around if lots of injuries occur after a disaster so it’s best to have your own emergency kit at your desk. The Red Cross  offers pointers on preparing a disaster kit and earthquake plan.

Do you own a small or home-based business? If you do, here’s a great resource for small business owners from Allbusiness.com . It covers everything from articles on risk management, protecting your business assets, to securing emergency loans. The Small Business Administration  website also features a section on disaster recovery and disaster business loans.

Do you have your finances in order? Do you carry adequate insurance? Have you made an inventory of your valuables? Bankrate.com  offers practical tips on how to be financially prepared for disaster.

Unlike other natural forces, earthquakes strike without warning. It pays to be ready anywhere, all the time.

John Poyser

I like to look for historical trivia. Finding the best ones feels like unearthing really juicy celebrity gossip in a tabloid. Like, did you know that beer king (and frat boy hero) Adolphus Busch was in San Francisco in 06? And that he witnessed the quake and fire? He fled the city via ferry to Oakland .

John Poyser

Remember those fire grenades? Guess they weren’t really helpful during the fire. How about dynamite? Out of desperation, dynamite was used to keep the flames from spreading. In an article in Colliers Magazine dated May 5, 1906 , Jack London wrote:

Wednesday night saw the destruction of the very heart of the city. Dynamite was lavishly used, and many of San Francisco proudest structures were crumbled by man himself into ruins, but there was no withstanding the onrush of the flames. Time and again successful stands were made by the fire-fighters, and every time the flames flanked around on either side or came up from the rear, and turned to defeat the hard-won victory.

Did it work? Find out from San Francisco Fire Department Chief O’Shaughnessy’s Report on the Fire of 1906 .