An earth quake is shaking of surface of earth resulting from the sudden relase of energy from the earths lithosphere. Earthquakes can range from weak to violent enough to destroy everything on the surface of earth. Geologists believe that plate tectonics provides driving forces for the generation of earthquake.( Borcherdt & Gibbs 1906).
In the morning of April 18, 1906, a sudden schok banged San Francisco. About half a minute later, one of the biggest quakes in the history smacks the sleeping city awake. Modern geologists estimate that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was measured between the magnitude 7.7 and 8.3. The quake demolished 28,000 constructions, about 700 people lost their lifes and endured almost all of the city’s 400,000 citizens were displaced.( Thatcher 1906).
Now, after the long period 100 years.. Footage of the quake’s heighly damaging aftermath has been found. Providing hope for treasure hunters around the globe, photography collector David Silver found the rare roll of nitrate film at California flea market loaded in the trunk of a car.( Ellsworth et al. 1906).
In the post-disaster footage, filmmaker follow a similar path down Market Street as in their previous work. A ruin strewn with rubble and refugees was once a road walled with huge buildings and bustling with commerce. Half crumbled buildings are expolied as bystanders look numbly on. Effacted families haul their remining belongingsto the city port, ready to leave and perhaps never come back.
The streets were absoultly full of people, Children having fun, everyone was enjoying his time but within no time the Market Street was no longer what it was just a moment before earthquake. Wright said.” Little did they know that just four days later a lot of lives would be lost, a lot of smiles would be missing and lot of buildings would be gone”.18 April was the darkest day in the history of San Francisco.
References
Borcherdt RD, Gibbs JF. Effects of local geological conditions in the San Francisco Bay region on ground motions and the intensities of the 1906 earthquake. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 1976 Apr 1;66(2):467-500.
Ellsworth WL, Lindh AG, Prescott WH, Herd DG. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the seismic cycle. Earthquake Prediction. 1981:126-40.
Thatcher W. Strain accumulation and release mechanism of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Journal of Geophysical Research. 1975 Dec 10;80(35):4862-72.
