The tremors had lasted for about one minute, which was enough to bring down almost all structures of the city. The fire that started as a side effect of the great earthquake, had mostly devastated the China Town. A record of this great fire and earthquake had been maintained by the Government of San Francisco. Recently, an on line digital library has been launched by the government to keep the citizens informed about the earthquake.
The Virtual Museum of The City of San Francisco has several pictures of the devastated landscape of San Francisco, after The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. The collection include:
- April 18-23 Earthquake Timeline
- The Mayor’s “Shoot-to-Kill” Order — April 18th
- Earthquake Newspaper Clippings
- Eyewitness Accounts
- "Who Perished”; List of Dead from the 1906 Earthquake
- San Francisco Fire Department Report
- Police Department Report
- U.S. Army Operations During the Earthquake and Fire
- U.S. Navy Operations During the Earthquake and Fire
- Engineering and Scientific Reports
- Southern Pacific Railway Company
- Relief and Recovery Efforts
- San Francisco One Year Later
- Photographs of the 1906 Disaster
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