According to the news , they barely felt the 'quake in Japan on Wednesday (Thursday there—no, wait ...) before tsunami warnings got everyone to safety. Then, the tsunami traveled all the way from Asia to California and —WHAM!—struck Crescent City , wrecking docks and sinking a boat. One local said he was not aware of the tsunami until he heard about it from others. "We're only three blocks from the harbor," he said to the San Francisco Chronicle. "We didn't know it was coming."

Meanwhile, half a world away in North Carolina, a tornado upended Riegelwood  and killed eight people. "There was no warning. There was no time," one victim said in the AP report. "It just came out from nowhere."

I searched the National Weather Service for "warning system" and got a full page  of links to their procedures and policies.

So why are warnings not received? Is it fiscal trouble in counties? What's our weak link here?

Posted by Charles at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Get Involved, Natural Disasters, Participate, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, Wells Fargo Bank

Were you there?

There was a 6.7 earthquake in Hawai'i over the weekend . The media were abuzz with the story. The focus was not just the damage or the unnerved residents, but also on the threat of tsunamis .

Nevertheless, everything is OK on the Big Island, even as authorities comb for tragedy. According to the USGS (your top earthquake and volcano resource), this alarm is founded in fact —guided by history, if I may. A 1946 quake in Chile sent 55-foot waves to Hilo, causing extreme damage. This event prompted the Tsunami Warning System  that still operates today.

Most Hawaiians are cool about the whole thing, as you'd expect. Will Kyle details his day , one of three historic earth-broncos he's busted. He also writes about the potential for continent changing: The science he invoked gave me a jolt, by golly.

Just another day for Hawai'i, although a more interesting one, to be sure. And at the end of each Hawaiian day is that one-of-a-kind sunset and some cultural magic .

Aloha.

Posted by Charles at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, First-hand Accounts, Natural Disasters, Tsunamis, Wells Fargo Bank

Today we celebrate the strength of ideas  and offer our own award nominations for Preparedness on a Personal Scale:

Any Preparedness inventions you’d like to nominate? Let us know!

Posted by Charles at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Work, Earthquakes, Experts, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Wells Fargo Bank

Chris Terzich of Wells Fargo's Business Continuity Planning works vigorously on internal preparedness. He's a busy guy—how can you ensure the safety of team members and customers while supporting continuity of business?

Terzich's approach is simple and effective, built on three components: a single set of procedures for everyone, management teams in key facilities, and a team of experts to guide managers through incidents.

The first component is as simple as the flip chart with response instructions for any emergency. The second coordinates building-by-building teams, and the third develops experts to assist with multiple issues that managers will face in hazard situations.

"It is important for all companies to have a comprehensive incident management program," Terzich writes, "but internal processes like those described above are only part of the equation." Internal programs alone cannot protect the nation's infrastructure, which is about 85% privately owned. Meaning, "the importance of partnership between the public and private sectors to improve the resiliency and preparedness of this infrastructure in the face of terrorist attacks or other hazards."

Terzich calls this "Looking Out Your Front Door," or, working to strengthen community ties. Between several groups of people—like, say, firefighters, an office building and the school around the corner—the community reacts calmly and intelligently in crisis. Neighborhood by neighborhood.

This is a standard feature in Wells Fargo's attitude toward corporate citizenship. Last week, the online news and resource site for employees, Wells Fargo Teamworks, reported the company's half-million dollar commitment to the Greater Los Angeles Red Cross . The money was for a disaster readiness campaign, to help the region prepare for the next "Big One."  You know, the earthquake that everybody knows  is coming, the one that will drop my kooky State into the Pacific .

The announcement of the cooperation between Wells Fargo and the Red Cross was announced by Edmund Lelo, an executive in L.A. and Vice Chairman of the Red Cross board there. Lelo stressed his experience as a beneficiary of Red Cross help: he grew up in Kenya, and his neighbors there often got relief during floods that affect the area.

"The Red Cross worked so hard in Kenya, and we've seen it in action in hurricane-stricken New Orleans and Florida, even in our neighborhoods when fire forces a family from its home," Lelo told Teamworks. "We have the great opportunity in Los Angeles of knowing disaster will eventually strike, so now is the time to get ready. Now is the time to rally our businesses to support a cause that will affect every single person in the region."

Posted by Charles at 03:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Work, Earthquakes, Experts, Get Involved, Participate, Prepare, Wells Fargo Bank

The National Weather Service has a pretty benign set of warnings  today. Watch out for fires in the Northwest and in the Plains, it’s hot in central regions, and there are thunderstorms expected in many areas. All in all, just another day across our continent .

So why prepare?

The obvious is, well, obvious. You can save your own life by having the right implements and the right knowledge. The right tools and supplies  will get you through the days without access to food, water and shelter. First Aid  is critical if trauma happens and access to care is impeded because of disaster conditions. You prepare to get through The Big One.

Keep in mind, though, that preparation lasts longer than the event and its aftermath. Preparedness is an important feature in community response to crisis. When you are prepared, and prepared as a group, your community gets through it better and recovers faster.

New Orleans might never get back on track, or take a long time getting there, but it will be only because of physical changes to the place. Many people have returned after a long year away and those who have not returned are still part of that city. "Voices of Katrina" from the New Orleans Times-Picayune  displays letters of support and affection between neighbors far and wide. The spectrum runs from bittersweetness  to dogged persistence , but it’s all the same thing. A city getting its life back.

Posted by Charles at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Home, At Work, Earthquakes, Events, Fires, Floods, Hurricanes, Natural Disasters, Prepare, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, Wells Fargo Bank

As if the disaster of Christmas 2004 wasn't enough, another tsunami hit Indonesia . The wave slammed Java after a 7.7 earthquake (or 7.2—reports differ) rumbled south of the island this morning .

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center  has all the latest scientific info and has the really thick description in "About Tsunamis"—a veritable textbook on the subject. If you want to know about big waves, that's the place to go.

The news is still breaking, but if you are compelled to help in any way, you can start with the Red Cross . They have issued a report  about some volunteers who went to Indonesia to help with ongoing relief for the 2004 events—just in time for events this morning.

Posted by Charles at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Events, Experts, Wells Fargo Bank

Yes, our worst fears are confirmed—Earth's innate instability continues . According to the journal Nature , the lower portion of the San Andreas Fault  (the Southern California strip) hasn't produced a real good, pressure releasin' quake for centuries. The buildup of strain along the fault, therefore, can mean only one thing. Oops, I mean this worst fear .

The report in Nature discusses the threat to Southern California  in particular. About 24 million people live down there, and while they are not all on the fault lines, a big quake would affect freeways, infrastructure, ports and the like. Because the area is so dry, what happens if water systems  are compromised? 24 million is a lot of thirsty people.

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, a magnitude 6.7, Southern California rebuilt itself with legendary speed (long version here ). It's the model for disaster recovery on a societal scale. But as you'd expect, the basis for this skill is contained in all the warnings about being prepared . The more you do now , the easier it is to recover after the fact. Word up.

Posted by Charles at 01:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Home, At Work, Earthquakes, Experts, Misc, Prepare, Wells Fargo Bank

An earthquake  rumbled through the Bay Area at a quarter to six this morning. The jolt had a 4.7 Richter Scale  pedigree, and I unofficially peg the shindo value at 1 .

Whatever shrug-o-meter you prefer, the "Quality" was deemed "excellent" by the USGS . As usual with our local quakes, however, most everyone I asked responded with "Hmmm—didn't feel a thing."

A 5:47 a.m. seismic event probably coincides with Stage 4 ("true delta") or Stage 5 (REM)  of sleep. You're either in deepest sleep or having those goofy dreams about being chased by a terrier and your knees turn to jelly. It would take a real whopper of a quake to shake you out of that.

So if there are approximately 2,200 earthquakes each year  of this magnitude, it stands to reason that some people will feel them. How about you? Do you wake up? Do your dreams take a weird turn and find out it was an earthquake that made you dream about the Cadillac turning into a canoe?

Posted by Charles at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Misc, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

When major disasters happen, we are often moved by images of misery and despair. An account from a parent who has lost her child, or a picture of an old woman scavenging for food amidst rubble is enough to prompt us to dial a disaster relief organization and ask, "How can I help?" Because most of us can ill afford to take leave from our jobs and volunteer, we're more likely to donate cash or in kind rather than give time. Herein lies the dilemma: "To which of the gazillion disaster relief organizations should I give without being taken for a ride?" (FYI: There are over 1.6 million charity organizations registered in the country, and 60,000 new ones are created annually.)

I wish the answer were that easy . Fortunately, here's one site that features articles on smart giving . Smartgivers.org features guidelines on subjects such as how much to give to a charity, how much a organizations should spend on programs, and donor tax benefits.

Another good resource is the Better Business Bureau's Give.org . It evaluates over 600 national charitable organizations, with a strong emphasis on accountability. It also offers a medium for filing a complaint against unscrupulous organizations. Like Smartgivers.org, the site offers plenty of tips on charitable giving.

It's terrible when an act of kindness becomes an opportunity for getting taken advantage of. Luckily, online resources such as Give.org and Smartgivers.org help us to combine our good intentions with charity savvy.

Posted by Jane Po at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Get Involved, Participate, Wells Fargo Bank

Last Saturday, May 27, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3  struck the island of Java in Indonesia. The city of Yogyakarta was hit the hardest, and the death toll, as of this morning, was at around 5,700 and is still rising. Over 200,000 people have been displaced. And it doesn't help that a nearby volcano, Mount Merapi , has been showing signs of activity.

Indonesia  is the fourth most populous nation in the world, with much of its people living in poverty. Recovery will be slow , especially because the country is still dealing with the disaster caused by the tsunami in 2004. Disaster relief organizations have been quick to respond, but will need to raise more funds in a climate of "charity fatigue." Perhaps you'd like to help?

If you're thinking of donating money, but not quite sure how, here are some tips on how to give with confidence to charitable organizatons  from Charity Navigator, a cool web site that helps donors make intelligent giving decisions. If you're already familiar with the ins and outs of charitable giving, take a look at the Reuters Foundation's Alertnet page on donating to the Indonesian quake relief effort . The page lists over 20 reputable disaster relief organizations working to help the earthquake victims. There's a link to the donation form page of each organization listed.

As we've seen in our own Bay Area history, it will take more than a village to rebuild and rise from destruction. With credit card on one hand and a mouse on the other, you can make a difference.

Posted by Jane Po at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Get Involved, Participate, Wells Fargo Bank

Having grown up in typhoon  country, I've always wondered what the eye of a hurricane,  looks like. I know I've been IN one at some point—you feel some sort of an eerie calm, which makes you heave a brief sigh of relief, that is, until the eye passes and the wind picks up again, and terror grips you once more. I have one vivid recollection of a typhoon that hit our city close to noon. The storm was so powerful that a glass top from our lawn furniture danced in mid-air like a sheet of Kleenex, then dropped on the grass as soon as the eye came in.

I finally found some awesome shots of a hurricane's eye , taken from a weather plane by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Posted by Jane Po at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Perspective, Wells Fargo Bank

The author takes a look at the future that befell the displaced of 1927, and what lies ahead for Katrina's victims. Perry comments on post-Katrina economic analyses parlayed by mainstream media pundits, as he points out the shameless candor with which some of these statements were made. And the sarcasm he unleashes on the government's action in response to the catastrophe makes the article a provocative read.

Posted by Jane Po at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

In case you didn't know, it's National Hurricane Preparedness Week. To emphasize the importance of the issue, the National Hurricane Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has launched a hurricane preparedness web site . (Yes, we're taking a break from earthquakes.)

The Hurricane Preparedness web site is rich in information on hurricane science, and on how to get ready for different hazards that come with hurricanes such as inland flooding  (the first thing you should think about when a hurricane happens), storm surges  and tornadoes . There's also a section on hurricane history, which features a tracker  that graphically displays storms since 1851.

Two "cute" features: a table with the names of hurricanes for the seasons 2006 through 2011 (do you really want to name your child Whitney?), and a kids' site  that has posters available for download. The kids' site also has a scavenger hunt to teach them how to assemble a disaster supply kit, and a hurricane coloring book.

In case you're wondering why we're focused on hurricanes this time, it's because June 1st marks the beginning of hurricane season. Also, after all the comparison that's been made between the destruction caused bv the quake of '06 and Katrina, do we really want to see another catastrophe of the same magnitude?

Posted by Jane Po at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Home, At Work, Earthquakes, Prepare, Wells Fargo Bank

Remember the old adage "Haste makes waste?" Unfortunately, politics has a way of worming its way into any sort of infrastructure construction, and San Francisco was not exempt from this. Here is an excerpt from an article in the Contra Costa times dated Apr. 18, 2006 , which talks about seismic codes and reconstruction after the big quake of '06:

...San Francisco civic leaders decided against making major upgrades of the city building code even though the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that poor building design contributed to the heavy losses.

San Francisco leaders worried tougher code standards could slow reconstruction.

"In the rush to rebuild, San Francisco was denied a safer future," Philip Fradkin wrote in his 2005 book, "The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906."

Efforts to upgrade the code substantially were defeated, Fradkin wrote. "For those in charge of building... little or nothing should be done so the city could be rebuilt as quickly and as cheaply as possible."

Reconstruction crews filled mushy shoreline areas with earthquake rubble to build on despite scientists' warnings that those areas were vulnerable to quake damage.

City leaders downplayed the earthquake damage to avoid scaring off loans needed to finance reconstruction.

Now if you think this was all something that could've only happened in the past, think again. This morning, an independent team of engineers and disaster experts released a report on why the levees failed during Hurricane Katrina . The conclusion? Failure of the levees was the result of "a culture of inattention that put safety lower on the scale than cost." Guided by history? You tell me.

Posted by Jane Po at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Since a major Indian Ocean quake triggered a massive tsunami in 2004, residents of coastal areas worldwide have started to ask: "Could it happen here? What are the chances?" An article from the US Geological Service's (USGS) newsletter Sound Waves  takes a look at tsunami risks in different parts of the United States and its territories. For us residents of the US West Coast, it's not a question of if, but when.

Like earthquakes, tsunamis strike without warning and, in many cases, may involve not one but more waves. Is there anything that can be done to prepare for a tsunami? What should you do when a tsunami hits? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has an excellent web site dedicated to tsunamis  that features information on science, research, preparedness and disaster mitigation. Or read the USGS circular entitled Surviving a Tsunami—Lessons from Chile, Hawaii, and Japan  for guidelines on tsunami preparedness, based on the accounts of survivors of past catastrophes.

Posted by Jane Po at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Home, At Work, Earthquakes, Prepare, Wells Fargo Bank

Until the Great Tsunami of 2004 hit Southeast Asia , these monstrous waves existed in the realm of Hollywood disaster blockbusters. Unfortunately, today, not many remember the tsunami that hit Crescent City, California , when a powerful earthquake shook Alaska on Good Friday, 1964. The earthquake was the largest ever to be recorded  in North America. It created waves 7-21 feet tall which battered the Crescent City's coastline, causing 11 deaths and $7,414,000 (in 1964 dollars) in damages.

So massive was the catastrophe that when an earthquake measuring magnitude 7 occurred off the coast of Northern California on June 15, 2005, the survivors of the '64 tsunami had to relive the nightmare from 40 years before. Listen to a two-part broadcast about that horrific event on National Public Radio. (Part 1 ; Part 2 )

Posted by Jane Po at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, First-hand Accounts, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Posted by Jane Po at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Artifacts, Earthquakes, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Another natural disaster California residents have to deal with is landslides. Rains can trigger them and so can earthquakes. The picture on the left was one of the largest landslides caused by the 1906 earthquake. That happened in Humboldt County.

To find out if you live in landslide country, try looking for your area's landslide map  on the US Geological Survey (USGS) web site. California’s Department of Conservation web site also contains detailed landslide maps  for the state. If you’re an East Bay resident and want the ultimate landslide map experience, try the USGS/Google Earth helicopter tour  of the Hayward Fault. It maps out active landslide areas in the East Bay Hills, and you can even zoom in on your house to see if it will be doing the luge  when the next heavy rain or earthquake occurs.

Should you discover that you live in a landslide-prone area, don’t go into full buyer’s or renter’s remorse mode just yet. There are some things you can do to mitigate the impact of a landslide on your home. As in an earthquake, the key to surviving a landslide is preparedness. Check the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) web site for guidelines on what to do before , during  and after  a landslide.

Posted by Jane Po at 03:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Home, At Work, Earthquakes, Prepare, Wells Fargo Bank

I’ve been reading a pamphlet from the US Geological Survey (USGS) called Facing the Great Disaster: How the Men and Women of the U.S. Geological Survey Responded to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake . The 18-page booklet pays tribute to the men and women of the USGS, who went beyond the call of their profession to chronicle the disaster from day to day, and to assist in post-quake relief efforts. To quote: "They were all ordinary people who responded to a natural disaster in extraordinary ways."

The USGS' California-based topographers, many of whom were originally hired to map the physical features of the state, shifted their focus and studied the effects of the quake through photography and field observations. Some of the more memorable photos on the quake that are in circulation today are part of the USGS collection. Many of them are reproduced in the pamphlet.

The prose of the booklet is unsentimental and devoid of drama. Instead, it highlights true accomplishments of the USGS' finest without the need for heroic language. You can read the booklet online  or purchase a hard copy  from the USGS.

Posted by Jane Po at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Okay, indulge me on this one post. After spending weeks upon weeks looking at photographs of the quake of '06, I found these on the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library's excellent online archive . Will someone please tell me: WHY ARE ALL THESE WOMEN FASHIONABLY DRESSED?!?

Posted by Jane Po at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Found in Artifacts, Earthquakes, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

This morning, a series of small earthquakes hit the North Bay  (for non-Bay Area residents, this area refers to the counties of Marin, Solano, and lower Sonoma). The strongest, which struck at 3:37 a.m., measured 4.4 on the Richter Scale.

Sonoma was one of the hardest-hit areas  of the 1906 earthquake. There are numerous photographs of the ruined Santa Rosa county courthouse  in circulation in print and on the web. You can read a newspaper account of the quake from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat online . The destruction was caused by the earth movement itself, unlike in San Francisco where most of the destruction was caused by fire. The quake of '06 is the largest natural disaster to hit Sonoma.

This morning's earthquakes were not the only reminders that we in the Bay Area live under precarious conditions. The Sonoma County Museum  is holding an exhibit entitled Force of Nature: 1906 Earthquake Centennial to commemorate the area's devastation which, as the exhibit's brochure explains, "dramatically rupture(s) our presumptions of stability."

Posted by Jane Po at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Museums, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

I'm a big fan of online exhibits. They offer instant gratification—I am able to take a second look at an artifact and see if there are details that I missed on my first viewing, and I get to pay as many visits and enjoy parts of the exhibit that I like best. There’s something else I like about online exhibits. They’re a great way for collections to be shared with folks who don’t have the time or money to travel and view these rare gems.

One nice little exhibit I found is the Photographs of the 1906 Disaster From the Studios of Espey and Rogers , hosted by then Oakland Public Library. It’s a collection of pictures taken by Charles Victor Espey, a refugee from San Francisco who settled in Oakland. The plate glass negatives were donated to the Oakland Library when he passed away. The exhibit's layout is simple, no-nonsense, but the selections it featured had a kind of poignancy to them which I found very moving.

One particular photograph that caught my eye depicts survivors scavenging the ruins for cooking utensils . While viewing it, I found myself feeling very grateful for not having lived under such dire circumstance.

Posted by Jane Po at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Artifacts, Earthquakes, Misc, Museums, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

I’ve always lived in earthquake country. Before moving to this country, I lived in the part of the world seismologists like to call The Ring of Fire . I felt my first real, strong shaker when I was 10. It struck at 4:10 in the morning . To this day, I have not found a Richter scale reading of its magnitude because back then, scientists in my country used an antiquated way of measuring earthquake intensity with a Rossi-Forel scale . It registered Intensity VII. It may have been considerably weaker than any of the ones I’ve felt here in California, but to a 10-year-old, that was a big deal.

The quake was strong enough to wake up our household. I remember the very first earthquake safety advice I ever got: My mom screamed, “Go under the bed!” I can still hear her voice as if it happened yesterday. After it was over, she led us to our dining room. We have an antique heirloom dining table made of the thickest piece of lumber. It seats 14 people, but as my mom pointed out, it could provide cover for as many as 20.

There were 260 deaths attributed to the quake , mainly because the quake caused a six-story apartment building to collapse. I remember all the news outlets covering the rescue efforts 24/7, the voices of news reporters all shaky and choked, all because there was little hope of recovering any live bodies. School was suspended that day, but when classes resumed the day after, my teachers would speak about the event in hushed tones. I have no recollection of any “just in case another earthquake comes along, you should…” discussion in class. I do remember the nuns urging us to pray (my school’s idea of preparedness).

That was many years ago. You’d think that I would know better and settle in a "more sensible" place. But that event must have made a strange impression on me because today, I'm practically sitting on top of a fault.

Posted by Jane Po at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Misc, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Carleton Watkins  was a prominent American photographer whose life had taken a few unfortunate turns. The quake of ’06 destroyed his studio and all his negatives . He never recovered from his loss. Devastated, he spent the last 6 years of his life at the Napa State Hospital for the Insane.

In the past, disaster recovery meant physical recovery. Bones were mended. Walls were patched. City planners went back to the drawing board and built anew. But there were no conversations around coping with loss, emotional pain, or shock. Survivors were expected to simply “deal with it” and move on. Unfortunately, not everyone knew how to "deal" with "it."

Luckily, today, emotional recovery is recognized as part of the greater disaster recovery process. There are excellent online resources that address disaster mental health. The Centers for Disease Control , I think, has one of the best. It has a very informative section on crisis counseling for kids and teens. If you’re a mental health professional, you may also want to check out the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s Emergency Mental Health and Traumatic Stress  site and. For clinicians, the Department of Veterans Affairs offers an online guidebook .

Posted by Jane Po at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Home, At Work, Earthquakes, Prepare, Wells Fargo Bank

(Curators are a special breed of people. They bring together elements of scholarship, pedagogy and—I hate to say this but here goes—entertainment. I'm always fascinated by the choices they make, their mindset, their personality and how all that is expressed in an exhibit. In this vein, we welcome guest blogger Aimee Klask, curator of the Oakland Museum's  exhibit Aftershock, Voices from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.)

I am ashamed to say, I have visited a few psychics in my life. Not one of them ever revealed to me that one day I would be the curator of an exhibition about the 1906 earthquake and fire . When the exhibit was assigned to me, I thought to myself, “How am I going to make this exhibit interesting, it is a topic so many people think they already know and find boring.”

As I scoured the books pertaining to the subject and the collections housed at institutions, I was surprised by how only one type of story was presented over and over again—middle class white woman feels earthquake, sees refugees, and helps those who are displaced. The first time I read this type of account I thought it was interesting, but after the third and fourth time, ennui set in. I pondered, “Out of 200,000 people displaced by one of the disastrous fires in American history, there is only documentation from this small group of the population? That doesn’t seem right.” Then, when I was reading a recent publication about the disaster and the concealing of the story by officials, I came across a justification as to why non-white and non-middle class people were not documented in this book in an ‘author’s note,’ and let me quote from the source—“[d]espite making an extensive search and asking others for help, I was able to locate only a few accounts by low-income Anglos, Asians, and southern Europeans. Native Americans and Afro-Americans were minorities within a minority of color at the time. It was as if they hadn’t existed…These voices are absent for a number of reasons. Such persons (emphasis added) may not have been literate, or literate in English; they may have lacked a tradition of documenting personal experiences…” This was my call to arms!

Such persons? Not literate? Using the term Afro-Americans instead of African Americans in 2005? I couldn’t believe it! I decided that I would do the extra work and uncover these undocumented stories. Knowing that the official collections were not going to have what I was looking for, I started to ask people connected to the museum. I asked our History Interpretive Specialist, Carolee Smith, if she knew of an African American family who could trace their roots back to 1906. I contacted the Chinese Historical Society of America  located in San Francisco about their constituency. I went to our museum’s Latino Advisory Council, Asian Pacific Advisory Council, and African American Advisory Council in search of these untold stories. I also got connected to Taren Sapienza , longtime coordinator of the Lotta’s Fountain annual event, to see if she knew of people who might want to share their story with me.

As I started to find people and family’s with diverse stories, I realized that the exhibit needed to show how these stories were not from random people; instead, these people were part of communities, all affected by the disaster. I asked the exhibit’s chief historical consultant, John Freeman, to put together a “Map of Diversity” showing the plurality of San Francisco’s population in 1906. It is one of the first graphics you see when entering the show and is one of my favorite elements of the exhibit. Along with the charting of these communities, the exhibit has personal stories panels highlighting the reality of the disaster and the perseverance of the human spirit. So save your money the next time a friend asks you to go see a psychic; instead, check out Aftershock! Voices from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

Posted by Jane Po at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Artifacts, Earthquakes, Museums, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

An old friend of mine has been following this blog for a while (he’s one serious blogger , btw). In one of our IM  sessions, our quake-themed conversation meandered to the topic of things that arise from calamities such as earthquakes and wars, what some folks would call historical accidents. Or unplanned consequences. Anyway…

While googling for sources on the reconstruction of San Francisco post-April 1906, I came upon this article, entitled Ripples from 1906 San Francisco Quake Felt Even Today , from the Seattle Times. In the same way that the quake of ’06 laid the foundation for modern earthquake science, the few minutes that the earth shook on April 16, 1906 changed the state’s economic, cultural, social and geological landscape, and in a huge way! Like why LA is now Cali’s numero uno city (a fact that grates on the nerves of a few NoCal folks). Or why we’re not experiencing quakes as often as we should be (the article calls this a “seismic reprieve”).

With this in mind, what unplanned consequences are in store for New Orleans ?

Posted by Jane Po at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Earthquakes, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

I found these videos