2-359-732 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Aftermath of the great earthquake, San Francisco, California, USA, 1906. Damage to the spire of the Steiner Street Catholic Church and settled houses. A major earthquake struck San Francisco on 18th April 1906. As well as damaging many buildings, the quake ruptured gas lines, causing fires to break out. As water mains had also been damaged, firefighters had little chance of fighting the blaze, which went on to destroy some 25,000 buildings. In all, the earthquake and fires killed an estimated 3000 people, the most to lose their lives in a natural disaster in US history, and made more than half the city's 400,000 population homeless. Stereoscopic card detail.