.:Blended Edu:.: Digital History: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Like every garden, San Francisco is not without a curse. While the curse may differ in each garden--Eden had the serpent, Los Angeles has drought, the Midwest has tornadoes, the Gulf Coast has hurricanes, and San Francisco has earthquakes--the results can be catastrophic.

Why are these garden infested with such crushing destruction?

Perhaps Wallace Stegner explains it best: "Where you find the greatest Good, there you will also find the greatest Evil, for Evil likes Paradise every bit as much as Good does." Nobody understands the severe consequences of Evil in Paradise more than San Franciscans--especially those living in the garden on April 18, 1906.

The residents of San Francisco--the Italians of North Beach, the millionaires on Nob Hill, and the Chinese in their underground caverns--all lay in peaceful slumber, unaware of the impending affliction to befall their beloved city. The sun was just beginning to rise when "that crack under the smiling hills" began to tremble and quake at twelve minutes and six seconds after five, April 18, 1906.

2006 marks the 100th Anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake.

Not only was this one of the great natural disasters to hit the United States, it was also one of the first to be documented in the mass media through film and photography.

There are a plethora of history, language arts, or geography resources available on the web to help students learn more about the San Francisco earthquake. These resources can be used to jump start a discussion on how people, cities, and governments respond to natural disasters.

1906 San Francisco Earthquake Resources