SAN FRANCISCO — At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, 110 years ago, residents of the San Francisco Bay Area were jolted awake by violent shaking, unwitting victims of one of the deadliest natural disasters to ever strike California.
While the approximate 7.8 magnitude earthquake terrified residents and toppled and damaged buildings in San Francisco and other communities along the San Andreas fault, the real devastation came from the aftermath: fires sparked by ruptured gas lines that ended up destroying most of the city — some 520 blocks according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The fires swept into the city from the waterfront, and with water mains damaged by the temblor, even buildings that survived the quake unscathed were set ablaze in the three days that followed.
A mass exodus of city residents followed, with tens of thousands fleeing for Oakland and the East Bay. Approximately 225,000 of San Francisco’s 400,000 residents were left homeless and tent cities soon filled Golden Gate Park and the Presidio.
Although life as before had come to a complete halt in the city, ever faithful journalists from The Call, Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle gathered in Oakland at the Oakland Tribune presses to print a combined edition. One of these journalists was Edward A. “Doc” Rogers, a photographer for The Call whose building had caught fire in the aftermath of the quake. Rogers joined the Tribune staff soon after and retired after 50 years.