Supervisors honor memory
of Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Legislation on future emergency preparedness introduced

By Aldrich M. Tan

April 18, 2006

The Board of Supervisors honored the memory of the Great Earthquake that hit San Francisco in 1906. Several agenda items at Tuesday's meeting were earthquake-related, including discussions on how to prepare for the next Big One.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi made a legislative request to the City Attorney to create an incentive program to help local households prepare for disaster.

"The 1906 earthquake was a deadly disaster," Mirkarimi said, "but I'm still worried that San Franciscan households are not prepared for another 7.9 magnitude earthquake."

The legislation is a modest reward system that encourages local households to complete an emergency preparedness training course, prepare an earthquake preparedness kit and establish a community disaster preparedness plan.

The city would solicit Homeland Security grants to fund the program, Mirkarimi said.

A community disaster preparedness plan is already in the works in Mirkarimi's district. The Board of Supervisors recognized Richard Shadoian and Cheryl Brodie for their efforts to develop SF5Together, a neighborhood specific disaster plan for District 5.

"The Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 warned us to learn how to be self-sufficient for 72 hours," Brodie said, "but we've had a sobering opportunity to witness through Hurricane Katrina what it truly is to be on one's own without the infrastructure of the city to aid us for longer than 72 hours."

The Board adjourned their Tuesday meeting in honor of the lives lost during the 1906 earthquake, a number that is still debatable.

Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier introduced a resolution to amend the 1906 earthquake's current death toll which the Board passed in February 2004. In 1907, the Board of Supervisors established the death toll of the earthquake and subsequent fire on April 18, 1906 at 478.

Gladys Hansen, the founder of the City Archives at the Public Library, has compiled a list of more than 3,400 fatalities. The numbers include victims from Chinatown shot by authorities as suspected looters.

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, on behalf of Alioto-Pier, announced at Tuesday's meeting that the actual death toll may have been as high as 5,000.

"The research is still a work in progress and we'll have more information at a later time," Elsbernd said.

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