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It's a.12 a.m. on April 18, 1906 in San Francisco, California.

Ernest Adam dozes in bed. On a normal day, he'd enjoy another hour's sleep before putting in a long shift in a silverware showroom. But today is not a normal day. Ernest wakes suddenly. He's swaying in bed. An invisible

force is pulling him from side to side, and he doesn't understand it. Suddenly, a sharp jerk

tips Ernest bed over, and he falls to the floor. The whole house feels like it's falling jerk tips Ernest bed over and he falls to the floor.

The whole house feels like it's falling apart.

Ernest puts on his shoes, runs for the stairs, struggling to keep his balance as the floor rocks beneath him.

He half runs, half falls down the stairs and dashes for the front door.

He fumbles with the lock and yanks the handle. The door

doesn't budge. It's stuck in the frame. So Ernest takes a step back and barges at it with his

shoulder. The door splinters open and Ernest pushes his way onto the street. Many of his

neighbors are already there, cowering in their pajamas, their faces etch with

terror as building shake around them, and a guttural rumble amidst from the bowels of the earth.

Ernest turns his gaze over his shoulder and looks at his own home just in time to see the

entire front wall collapse. For a brief moment, Ernest can see right into the bedroom he

just escaped from. Then the rest of the house tumbles in on itself. Ernest stands stock

still in complete shock. The home he's kept for the last 20 years is gone, and its sudden destruction took only 20 seconds.

The earthquake that strikes San Francisco in 1906 predates the Richter scale, but scientists will

later estimate its magnitude at 7.9, making it one of the largest earthquakes ever to hit the continental

...