96 years ago today

[gridlore]

The great city of San Francisco was asleep, for the most part at 5:13 am. Then the San Andreas fault let out a mighty roar, and the Great Earthquake and Fire was on.

Registering an estimated 8.2 on the Richter scale, the quake ripped the city apart. Then came the fires. Most of the city burned, thousands of homes were destroyed, and we rebuilt.

At 5:13 this morning, the few remaining survivors gathered at Lotta's Fountain, which was a meeting point for those looking for loved ones. Further south, the "fireplug that saved the Mission" will receive it's annual coating of gold paint. All over the city, the haunting sounds of fire engines could be heard for thirty seconds.

The Great Earthquake and Fire

California Earthquake

San Francisco
The official city song

It only takes a tiny corner of
This great big world to make the place we love
My home up on the hill
I find I love you still
I've been away, but now I'm back to tell you:

San Francisco, open your golden gate
You let no stranger wait - who's been knockin’ - who's been knockin'
outside your door
San Francisco, here comes your wanderin'one
And I'm sayin', and I'm sayin'
That I'm gonna wander no more
Other places, other places only make me love you best
Tell me, tell me you're the heart of the golden West, the golden West
San Francisco, welcome me home again
I'm coming home to go roamin' no more.

Chorus:
San Francisco, open your golden gate
You let no stranger wait who's been outside your door
San Francisco, here is your wandering one
Saying I'll wander no more
Other places only make me love you best
Tell me you're the heart of all the golden west
San Francisco, welcome me home again
I'm coming home to go roaming no more.

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

I had never heard about the fireplug before! That's very cool.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I think it's on Valencia at 19th or so. It was the only one left in the area that had pressure.

[isomeme.livejournal.com]

The magnitude of the '06 Quake makes me shudder when I try to imagine it. I don't remember -- have you ever hiked the Earthquake Trail at Point Reyes? That was the epicenter, and the peninsula moved thirty feet north relative to the mainland. Read that again.

The ground move thirty feet. In less than a minute.

I've tried to picture that, but I can't. The biggest quake I've ever experienced was Northridge, from about ten miles south of the epicenter. That was a respectable 6.8, and caused a fair bit of damage, but the ground motion was measured in inches.

Thirty feet.

This is a very dangerous part of a very dangerous planet.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've done the Earthquake trail.. back when I was in the Army. Bill and I walked it. I *so* enjoyed walking him into the ground. :)

After Loma Prieta, I went up to visit friends who lived in the Santa Cruz mountains, very near the epicenter. To get to their house, we had to stop a quarter of the way up the drive way, and hike around the 8 foot wide, fifty foot long rift in the Earth. About a hundred feet in back of their place there was another rift that had opened and snapped shut during the quake. There wasn't a piece of glass left intact in that area.

This is a very dangerous part of a very dangerous planet.

Amen! But we have great sourdough bread, so I'm staying put.

Seriously, the more I learn about planetology, the more I want to move someplace like Mercury. Sure, it's a little warm, but geologically very stable.

[rosefox]

You'd better start looking for another roommate, then.

[isomeme.livejournal.com]

Even Mercury might be a bit twitchy for your tastes -- the famous 3:2 tidal lock keeps it under constantly varying tidal forces (both magnitude and direction) which may trigger earthquakes as rock deforms under the shifting strains. There's controversy about whether this would manifest as continuous tiny quakelets or occasional monster quakes. Only one way to find out...hopefully Messenger will settle the issue in a few years.

Luna is probably your best bet for quake-free living on a large, inner-system body. The seismometers left by the Apollo missions detected practically nothing, as was predicted. Luna is cold and geologically dead, with only solar and libration-induced tidal strains -- neither of which amounts to much, especially across such a small body.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I come down on the microquake side of the argument. Astronomy had a pretty good article about this several months ago.

Luna? Nah, not until they clean up all that garbage.