recovery:San Francisco

image courtesy the Earthquake Hazards Program.

In 1906 San Francisco was leveled by The Great Earthquake and subsequent fires. The disaster occurred at 5:12 am. The death toll has been estimated to be well over 3,000. More than half the total population of 400,000 was left homeless. Nearly 28,000 buildings were destroyed, the majority of them being wood. The length of the rupture spanned 296 miles down the coast of California and tremors were felt as far south as Los Angeles.


image courtesy of vibrationdata.com.

San Francisco today is a booming, lively city. What was the strategy to rebuilding San Francisco?

The problem with natural disasters is that there is no one to blame - no one is responsible for paying for this damage other than simply those who want it fixed. Another problem with natural disasters (as opposed to war) is that there is no sense of nationalism, revenge, or unity. It is difficult to simply define a unified set of goals for reconstruction.

With 225,000 displaced people, the army got to work immediately building emergency houses out of redwood and fir, replacing 20,000 people in these refugee camps. The cottages could be rented for $2 a month toward the full purchase price of $50. They each cost $100-150 to erect.


one of the refugee camps following the earthquake. image courtesy of bookrags.com.

The city was ready to rebuild quickly, because there was to be an international exhibition in 1915. Individual houses were re-erected quickly, many of them almost identically to how they had been before, but the building standards were lowered in order to speed up the reconstruction process. One of the more ambitious plans for the city was by urban planner Daniel Burnham, which called for avenues and boulevards radiating across the city, a civic center complex with classical style (what could have been the largest urban park in the world). The plan was dismissed but many of its components were applied to the reconstruction of the city on its original street grid. The city did build his civic center, widen many of the streets and improve its infrastructure from what it had been before, as Burnham had proposed.


the civic center as it exists today. courtesy wikipedia.com.

By 1915, the city seemed largely un-damaged and the international exposition went on as schedule.


sources:
the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Wikipedia.
San Francisco 1906. Vibration Data.
The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. USGS.com.