2-710-275 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Ruins of the Jewish Synagogue on Sutter St.; stood the great earthquakes of 1865 and 1868', 1906. A major earthquake struck San Francisco, California, USA, on 18 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. Stereocard.