Happy Earthquake Day!

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 9:12am

100 years ago today the great quake of 1906 shook San Francisco at 5:13 am. I just got in from a celebration that is still going on - thousands of San Franciscans are on Market street at Lotta's fountain to commemorate the day. It was truly a great reason to get up at four this morning - the mayor interviewed twelve survivors - the youngest at 99 years old (she say's she was a product of the earthquake - concieved in the cold tent that her parents lived in during the rebuilding) the oldest was 111 years old. It was cold out - but a very special morning. The fountain by the way, is where the families of survivors met up and checked in to let everyone know they were alright. It was the only landmark on Market street that remained after the quake and fire, and still works to this very day. I have never seen it with water working...until this morning.

[Glebb]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 9:13am

I never will forget Jeanette McDonald....

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 9:14am

Haha! As I was leaving to come home - Val Diamond from Beach Blanket Babylon was just starting to belt that out Glebb!

[Glebb]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 9:16am

Sounds like it was a lot of fun.
I miss San Francisco.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 9:36am

Such a great city! I loved my time there...

100 years. Wow!!

[DG]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 9:47am

There was a great feature on the quake and aftermath last month in National Geographic. Truly an unbelievable occurance.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 10:29am

Enrico Caruso was so terrified of that day, he never went back...

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:33am

There was one little lady who is a survivor that the mayor interviewed that was an absolute delight. She said har father and mother had to rebuild their home and saloon that was lost in the quake, so the ladies across the street who were always home volunteered to watch over her. The reason the ladies were always home across the street?...It was a bordello! Only in San Francisco.

[FidoRock]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 1:39pm

We should never forget...

and when folks are griping about city regs, building codes, etc. etc., we should just see what happens when a 5.6 hits the near east and 145,000 perish, yet when a 7.1 hits Seattle, it's all about 110 year old chimneys falling and a highway that has to be closed when it cracks open four inches...

San Francisco is a pretty lady who stands proud ond strong from her experiences!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 1:47pm

"Happy" and "Celebrate" seem to be a tad bit inappropriate to describe the day to commemorate the disaster that killed 3000 people. But I think it is an important date to remember.

[Popular]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 2:11pm

SueleenGay ~ my thoughts exactly. Actually, as a Californian who has been through several quakes I don't get the "celebration" at all.

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 2:12pm

That's a big diferrence in the spirit of San Francisco Sueleen. We celebrate that the fact the loss was not greater than 3000 - and that there are still several here that are willing to share their experience of that day with us. The celbration and comemmoration is not just something that was held today, but every year at the fountain. It just so happens that today is the centennial and we are also celebrating that another disaster of equal or greater magnitude has not happened in the city. Yet..

Popular - you must live in LA. As someone who went through Loma Preita here - I have NO problem with the twenty thousand that showed up this morning on Market Street.

Updated On: 4/18/06 at 02:12 PM

[Popular]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 2:17pm

I do live in L.A.

I'm sure that the celebration is done with tact and honors the victims. The concept in writing sounds a little odd to me but I'm glad you had a great time.

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 2:19pm

If celebrating life is a bad thing, I sure am glad I am wrong in my thinking. I see nowhere in any of my posts that would suggest the ceremony was not respectful...not sure what you are thinking. There was a laying of a giant wreath and the Fire horns and trucks ring out at 5:13 and then the church bells sound as a moment of silence is observed. In fact - the only moment of disrespect was when one of the survivers said she lived in LA - the crowd booed a little. But our mayor stopped that immediately.

Updated On: 4/18/06 at 02:19 PM

[Popular]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 2:24pm

Noone said you were wrong in your thinking. Life is absolutely something to be celebrated. Like I said, I'm sure it was done with class as the survivors who joined in seemed eager and happy to participate. I can't help it if it struck me odd at first. Maybe it was the title "Happy Earthquake Day"... HA HA

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 2:29pm

Cheeze, I am not coming down on you. I just saw the coverage on the news this morning and it made me sad. So to see your thread titled "Happy" earthquake day kind of struck me as odd. It is one thing to celebrate life and the people who survived the disaster and another to reflect on the huge loss that the earthquake caused. I might feel differently if I was there.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 2:42pm

the title was a bit, um.....odd, but the sentiment is not. This needs to be remembered, as it's the largest natural disaster in North American (recorded) history.
Soon, as with the Titanic and Holocaust, there will be no living survivors, and how wonderful there are living first person accounts.

I was watching a show on this last night, maybe PBS, and it had survivors speaking......and I realized the interviews had to have been done at least twenty years ago, as these people would have to be near 106 years old, and they weren't......the stories were amazing.

Californians take earthquakes today for granted.....there were so many when I was a child in San Jose, lived in SF in the mid 90's, and down here too, that when a big one does happen where I live it will be a shock.

But one is coming, and the devastation (if in a populated area)will be horrible........