At 7:53 AM local time, on 21 October 1868, the destructive waves from a Magnitude 7 earthquake on the southern end of the Hayward Fault, quickly traveled across the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Because of its location in the heart of the Bay Area, then having a total population of about 260,000 (Federal Census records), and its magnitude, variously estimated as between 6.8 and 7.0, this earthquake was one of the most destructive in California history. Property loss was extensive and 30 people were killed. Five deaths were reported in San Francisco, out of a population of 150,000, where the total property loss was estimated to be $350,000 ($5-100 Million in 2007 dollars). This earthquake was known as the "great San Francisco earthquake" until the magnitude 7.8 shock on 18 April 1906. The cracking of the ground along the Hayward Fault was traced about 20 miles (32 km) from San Leandro to Warm Springs in Fremont, although modeling of survey data suggest that the fault moved as far north as Berkeley, and from these data the average amount of horizontal movement along the fault is inferred to be about 6 feet (1.9 meters).
Damage was most severe in Hayward and nearby towns along the Hayward fault in Alameda County. At Hayward, then a town with about 500 residents situated on the Hayward Fault, almost every building was damaged extensively or wrecked. At San Leandro, a town of about 400, the second floor of the Alameda County courthouse collapsed, and other buildings were wrecked. At Mission San Jose, in southern Fremont, the old adobe church and other buildings were wrecked. San Jose, which lay in the hills several kilometers west of the fault trace, a town of about 9000 residents, had many wrecked buildings and demolished chimneys. Across the Bay, at San Francisco, the Custom house and several other structures built on landfill reclaimed from the former Yerba Buena Cove (today's Financial District), sustained severe damage, and many cornices, awnings, and walls fell, but, as occurred later in the shock of 1906, well-constructed buildings on firm ground sustained little damage. Damage in Oakland, having a population of about 12,000, and mainly wood frame buildings, was much less than observed farther south at San Leandro and Hayward.
Sadly, many of the engineering lessons learned from this earthquake and openly discussed at the time, such as the hazards of building on "made ground" reclaimed from the San Francisco Bay or the admonition to "build no more cornices," were long forgotten by the time of the 1906 quake.
Damage occurred from Gilroy and Santa Cruz on the south to Santa Rosa on the north. The area shaken at Modified Mercalli intensity VII or higher includes about
900 square miles (2,300 km2).
Strong aftershocks continued
into November 1868.
Hayward Fault
Earthquake
Magnitude 6.8
1868-10-21
Visit Our Other Websites
South American Nazca Plate
CERN
The Day the Universe Changed
Visit Our Other WebSites
Bugging Out
Building Community
Skills
Projects
Security
Living Threats
Our Companion WebSites
Please contact our Webmaster with questions or comments. © Copyright 2011, 2016 PracticeSurvival.com, Integrity Protection Service All rights reserved. Reproduction, printing, redistribution without expressed written permission is forbidden and illegal.
PracticeSurvival.com Disclaimer Notice
All of the information on this website is offered on the strict basis that you and others will exercise proper caution and care in doing any of the things that are presented on this site. YOU are solely responsible for the use to which you put this material. You must take responsibility for your own actions.
These pages are intended to open your eyes, begin your road to enlightenment. We are on a shoe string budget so we do our best to edit and error check, if there may be some typos for which we appologize in advance. The idea is to introduce ideas for you to investigate further and prepare you to understand his classes. Some activities related to wilderness survival and preparedness can be dangerous if done without proper care and attention. Please be careful and attentive when engaging in any of these activities.
Be reasonable, responsible, take proper precautions, and exercise common sense.
The techniques shown on this website are meant solely for use in primitive wilderness survival and emergency off grid situations. Please note that in most places it is illegal to use some of the methods suggested to capture animals unless you are actually in a life and death survival situation.
Contact Info: PO Box 1448, Bellmawr, NJ 08099 USA Email: webmaster@practicesurvival.com Phone: 856-861-0300 William R DeCuzzi