20th-century-disasters

"The steel railroad bridge across the , having five spans resting on concrete pillars, was directly on the line of the , crossing it obliquely. It affords a striking example of the power of the temblor. Here one side of the river bank moved away from the other eighteen inches. As a result the bridge was pulled apart at one end, the concrete abutment sliding away beneath the tremendously heavy plate girders which rested upon it, so far that the latter had little more than the edge to support them. Beyond, one of the massive concrete bases of the bridge spans—some fifteen feet through in either direction—was cracked from side to side and the truss resting on it shifted, and the whole bridge was twisted out of alignment."

"Why not quench the fire at its start with water? Alas! there was no water, and this expedient was a hopeless one. The s which carried the precious fluid under the city streets were broken or injured so that no quenching streams were to be had. In some cases the s had been so damaged that the fire-fighting apparatus could not be taken out, though even if it had it would have been useless. A sweeping conflagration and not an ounce of water to throw upon it!"

"A steam schooner was taking refugees from the water-front by means of a gang-plank of two rough boards. A mother with her baby in arms was stepping cautiously down when a burly Swede behind gave her an impatient push. She lost her balance and fell, drowning with her baby before help reached her. Without an instant's delay, a soldier shot the Swede dead in his tracks."

"The line of the fault of the earthquake which visited the California coast on April 18, 1906, extends from a point below , , in a northwesterly direction, touching the coast at on the western boundary of the , and thence follows the coast line to , a total distance of approximately 200 s. The area affected comprises a strip on both sides of the fault line averaging 30 miles in width, or about 10,000 s. Within this area all structures and public works were more or less damage, the injury varying from a few cracks in the plaster finish to total collapse and destruction. The effects of the earthquake were most violent in close proximity to the fault line and decreased in intensity in proportion with the distance from it. The city of San Francisco occupied a central position on the fault line and consequently felt the maximum effect."

"On the third day after the shock appointed a State Earthquake Investigation Commission, naming as its chairman the head of the geological department of the , , and including in its membership , of the , Professors and , of the State University, , of the , , of the , , of , and Mr. Gilbert, of the ."

"It began suddenly at 11:58 A.M. the first of September in the twelfth year of Taisho [1923]. A violent rocking deep in the earth shook the Kanto region on which the capital city of Tokyo rests. Houses creaked and whined, twisted grotesquely, and collapsed. Inhabitants were buried alive, while those lucky enough to flee in time ran about screaming like crazed animals. What had once been a thriving center of the civilized world was in the space of a moment transformed into hell itself. One aftershock came only to be followed by another violent tremor and yet another aftershock. Fires broke out all over the city, and great columns of smoke billowed up toward the sky as from a giant volcano. Tokyo was soon under a blanket of thick, black vapor. The terrible tremors left the population in the grip of fear. Then those outrageous rumors started spreading and pandemonium broke out."

"Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and Superior, and Michigan — possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with many of the ocean's noblest traits... they are swept by Borean and dismasting blasts as direful as any that lash the salted wave; they know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew."

"No lake master can recall in all his experience a storm of such unprecedented violence with such rapid changes in the direction of the wind and its gusts of such fearful speed... It was unusual and unprecedented and it may be centuries before such a combination of forces may be experienced again."

"Dear wife and Children. We were left up here in Lake Michigan by McKinnon, captain James H. Martin tug, at anchor. He went away and never said goodbye or anything to us. Lost one man yesterday. We have been out in storm forty hours. Goodbye dear ones, I might see you in Heaven. Pray for me. / Chris K. / P.S. I felt so bad I had another man write for me. Goodbye forever."

"I knew it was storming before I was told. The rooms, the corridors, everywhere within this building vibrates with the power of the storm outside. The storm waves, like sound waves or the waves of the wireless, will not be denied by stone walls and plate glass windows."

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. Superior, they said, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early."