SAN FRANCISCO—On April 18, the city of San Francisco commemorated the 115th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake that killed more than 3,000 people with a ceremony at Lotta’s Fountain.
Both former Mayor Willie Brown and current Mayor London Breed were in attendance.
Mayor Breed tweeted on April 18:
“It was great to be able to come together early this morning at Lotta’s Fountain to commemorate the 115th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake after not being able to observe this tradition last year. Just as we did then, we’ll emerge from this challenging year stronger than ever.”
During the ceremony, there was a moment of silence at 5:11 a.m., the time when the earthquake started. At 5:12 a.m., according to ABC 7, there was fire engine sirens that lasted 30 seconds.
The 1906 earthquake is “one of the most significant earthquakes of all time” and ruptured the “northernmost 296 miles (477 kilometers) of the San Andreas fault from northwest of San Juan Bautista to the triple junction at Cape Mendocino,” notes the website of the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
In addition, the earthquake was felt from “southern Oregon to south of Los Angeles and as far as central Nevada.”
There was more than 3,000 deaths and about 225,000 became homeless after the earthquake, states the USGS, as well as more than $400 million in damages.
