FAMOUS EARTHQUAKES
THE EARTHQUAKE IN SAN FRANCISCO IN 1906
The great earthquake occurred at 5:14 a. m., April 18, 1906. As the shock shattered the principal water mains, the fire department was practically helpless and as a result, the fires which were started by the overturning of stoves, crossing of electric wires, the liberation of chemicals by breakage of containers, etc., rapidly spread until a territory of 4.7 square miles in the heart of the city was burned, and a loss approximately estimated at $275,000,000 was incurred.
This picture I got from the museum of San Francisco's web site it shows what some of the damage was after the earthquake.
On Monday, April 22, 1991, at 3:57 P.M. local time, the region surrounding the eastern border of Costa Rica and Panama was struck by a major earthquake. The Valle de la Estrella Earthquake was rated at magnitude 7.4-much larger than had been generally thought possible in that area. The fault rupture took place on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica’s Cordillera de Talamanca, which extends southeastward into Panama.
Moderate to severe damage occurred over some 20,000 square kilometers along the Caribbean coast and the adjacent mountain regions. The seriously damaged area included the rich coastal farming region bounding the Caribbean, an important banana, coffee, and sugar production area. The northern portion of the heavily damaged region included the Caribbean ports of Limón and nearby Moín, the most important industrial ports in Costa Rica. To the south, the export capabilities of a major banana region spanning the Panama-Costa Rica border were seriously disrupted.
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75 years ago, on 1 September 1923, one of the worst earthquakes in world history hit the Kanto plain and destroyed Tokyo, Yokohama and the surroundings. About 140,000 people fell victim to this earthquake and the fires caused by it. |
