On April 18, 1906, at 05:12 AM PST, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck the San Francisco area in California. The disaster led to devastating fires that lasted for several days, resulting in over 3,000 deaths and the destruction of more than 80% of the city. This earthquake is the deadliest in U.S. history and has the highest death toll from a natural disaster in California. While the earthquake and its aftershocks were damaging, the subsequent fires caused by ruptured gas mains were far more catastrophic, destroying approximately 25,000 buildings and costing an estimated $350 million at the time, equivalent to $8.9 billion today.
