Quakes Rattle Bay Area on ’06 Disaster’s Anniversary

Two earthquakes rattled the San Francisco area Thursday after residents had commemorated the 90th anniversary of the devastating 1906 temblor, which left hundreds dead and city blocks in ruin.

Thursday’s quakes, centered about 80 miles south of the city, occurred just hours after white-haired survivors of the 1906 quake gathered for an early morning ceremony to remember those who perished in the disaster.

The massive earthquake 90 years ago, which had a magnitude of 8.3, left 700 people dead and destroyed thousands of buildings, leaving a quarter of a million people homeless. Gas pipes broke and fire swept the city for three days.

About 20 survivors, all in their 90s, were guests of honor Thursday morning at an annual commemoration on Market Street that several hundred others attended, including San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Some wore 1906-style clothes, and vintage fire trucks and street cars were also there.

At 5:12 a.m. precisely, a moment’s silence was held in memory of the victims of the quake, then sirens and bells rang out and a commemorative wreath was placed on Lotta’s Fountain, which after the quake served as a meeting place where people left messages for relatives they were trying to find.

Cora Luchetti, 95, said her father, a fruit store owner, got up very early on the day of the 1906 quake and went downtown to buy produce. When the quake hit, he was killed by a falling pole, she said.

“We stayed and waited for him to return, and he never came back, so my mother was left with the four children,” she said. “So those are my thoughts of that awful day, the day I lost my father.”

There were no reports of injuries and only minor damage from Thursday’s two earthquakes.

Measuring magnitudes 4.6 and 3.8, the quakes were on the San Andreas fault, the same one that ruptured in 1906, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Residents of several towns said they felt sharp jolts.

Both quakes, the first recorded just before 6 p.m., were centered near the town of San Juan Bautista, 80 miles south of San Francisco, said Lu Page, a spokeswoman for the Geological Survey.

Survey officials said the quakes occurred on a very active part of the San Andreas, where small temblors and barely noticeable creeping movements are common.