Science

Tech shakes up seismology

As San Francisco marks the centennial of the great quake, technologies that help predict quakes and determine potential damage take confab spotlight.

April 19, 2006 6:48 a.m. PT

6 min read

On the centennial of the massive quake that shook San Francisco on April 18, 1906, many people are asking how a repeat rupture might affect the Bay Area today. Technologies that help scientists predict quakes and determine potential damage are central topics this week at a seismology conference in San Francisco.

Bracing for the next big one

What would the Bay Area look like after the next big quake? The prospective picture is sobering, scientists say.
April 18, 2006

Tracing the shadows of the 1906 quake

reporter's notebook Earthquake fanatics explore streets, facades, basements and rooftops of downtown San Francisco.
April 18, 2006

Earthquake fears prompt business continuity

Planning for the worst case means keeping communications lines open and planning for a vast amount of IT redundancy.
April 18, 2006

Incompetence, not quake, behind most damage in 1906

blog Political incompetence exacerbated the damage and the subsequent fire, according to a USC professor of history.
April 18, 2006

Bright lights, big quake?

Radio crackling, surges in heat and other phenomena may be signs of a coming earthquake--or they might be random events.
April 15, 2006

Red Cross: San Francisco unprepared for big quake

Only 6 percent of Bay Area residents have plans, training, supplies for dealing with seismic disaster, says agency.
April 14, 2006

Videos

A graphic representation of the 1906 quake

A geophysicist at USGS explains live animations he and others created to show in exact dimensions the effect of the great San Francisco earthquake.
April 17, 2006

Preparation for the next major quake

U.S. Geological Survey examines expected damage to roads and problems of recovery after major Silicon Valley or San Francisco earthquake.
April 17, 2006

There will be another major quake

If another earthquake the size of the 1906 tremor hit Silicon Valley or San Francisco, what could happen?
April 17, 2006

A look back at the 1906 S.F. quake

When the 1906 quake hit Northern California, author Jack London covered the damage for a magazine. Here's the story with London's photos courtesy of the California Historical Society.
April 17, 2006

Seismology turns to high tech

NASA works with the U.S. Geological Survey to track and understand the Earth's restless crust, tracing the progress of seismology since the 1906 quake.
April 14, 2006

Photos

Centennial celebration on parade

San Francisco residents commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake by attending a parade and other festivities.
April 18, 2006

Remembering the Great Quake

San Franciscans gather downtown to mark the 100th anniversary of the great earthquake of 1906.
April 18, 2006

The Great Quake of 1906

Photographs taken by Jack London show the devastation of the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires.
April 17, 2006

Learning from disaster

Visitors are educated about how scientists study and measure quakes at the U.S. Geological Survey Visitors Center.
April 17, 2006

Images: The science behind the shaking

Seismologists construct computer models to recreate how the ground moved along the San Andreas fault during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
April 17, 2006

Five biggest quakes

The earthquake that shook San Francisco in 1906 is considered to be one of the worst natural disasters to affect a major city in the U.S. More than 80 percent of the city was destroyed by the tremors and subsequent fires. Despite the devastation and a magnitude of approximately 7.8 on the Richter scale, the quake has not been ranked among the largest in the world, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Consider the effects of the five biggest temblors recorded since seismic monitoring began.

1. Chile, May 1960, magnitude 9.5
The biggest recorded earthquake caused a tsunami with waves over 25 meters high that hit the Chilean coast. The tsunami extended into the Pacific Ocean, pummeling Hilo, Hawaii. The combination of the earthquake and tsunami killed as many as 3,000 people, with the majority of deaths resulting from the tsunamis.

2. Good Friday Earthquake, March 1964, magnitude 9.2
Also called the Great Alaska Earthquake, this was the most powerful quake to hit the U.S. The earthquake was centered in Prince William Sound and affected surrounding towns in Alaska. The earthquake and ensuing tsunami resulted in approximately 125 deaths.

3. Indian Ocean, December 2004, magnitude 9.0
This undersea earthquake occurred off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra and resulted in a series of tsunamis in the Indian Ocean that devastated coastal regions in India, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The death toll reached approximately 283,000.

4. Kamchatka, November 1952, magnitude 9.0
This earthquake occurred at a depth of 30 kilometers off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. No deaths were reported.

5. Coast of Ecuador, January 1906, magnitude 8.8
The earthquake and ensuing tsunami caused damage along the coast of Central America. Its effects were observed as far as San Francisco, Hawaii and Japan. The tsunami killed as many as 1,500 people.

Source: USGS

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