Earthquake in San Francisco

At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, the people of San Francisco were awakened by an earthquake that would devastate the city. | The fire, lasting four days, most likely started with broken gas lines and, in some cases, was helped along by people hoping to collect insurance for their property-they were covered for fire, but not an earthquake, damage. | But when calculating destruction, the earthquake took second place to the great fire that followed. | The main temblor, having a 7.7-7.9 magnitude, lasted about one minute and was the result of the rupturing of the northernmost 296 miles of the 800-mile San Andreas fault.