The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

45 seconds. An estimated 7.9 on today's Richter scale. The deadliest earthquake in US history.

In this episode, we're examining the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. What happened? Why were this earthquake and the fires it caused so disastrous? And who did this seemingly indiscriminate force of nature hit the hardest?

Don is joined by Joanna Dyl, an environmental historian at Pomona College and author of 'Seismic City: An Environmental History of San Francisco’s 1906 Earthquake'.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Siobhan Dale. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Once upon a time in medieval England, there was a young king who would do just about anything for his favorite night.
0:06.5	They were inseparable.
0:08.5	With love at the front of a king's mind, instead of war or ambition, you'd think the kingdom would be in for a golden
0:15.0	era of peace. But England is headed for the most catastrophic collapse seen for hundreds of
0:20.4	years. The saga continues, Join me Dan Jones on This is History, a Dynasty to
0:26.4	Die for. Available wherever you get your podcasts. We're jolted awake, shaken, bolted from a bed somehow moving in all directions.
0:44.0	In the city outside the sun has barely risen and the earth roars.
0:50.0	An otherworldly guttural roar moving from the distance, rolling closer, faster, louder.
0:59.0	Plaster dust clouds the air.
1:01.0	Out in the streets, walls are breaking from buildings. What is this? Think, where
1:08.3	should we go? Stay here in this room, in this house that feels made of paper, do we run into the madness?
1:15.8	Do we grab the children and run?
1:18.4	Get us together.
1:19.4	Family, gather, gather, gather, gather.
1:21.2	The children are crying.
1:22.2	Shh, shh, it's going to be okay the screams of the city breaking
1:28.3	glass china smashing it's downstairs the building is creaking, pipes are rattling, popping,
1:36.5	grab the children, let's go.
1:38.6	A minute later, the earth is quiet again.
1:43.8	No more roaring, but something else.
1:47.4	Heat, flame, burning.
1:50.2	The smell of it.
	...

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