American Natural and Unnatural Disasters

American govenment officials have been commenting quite a bit about how the situation in New Orleans was really two back-to-back disasters, and that nothing like that had ever occurred before. Maybe not in their lifetime, but nearly a century ago there was the famous San Francisco earthquake. It was followed by a devastating fire, since extinguishing fires was hampered by water lines that had been broken during the earthquake.

Here are some numbers from back then (taken from a website by U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Hazards Program):

Dead - more than 3,000 (including the chief of fire departments - bad news that one)
Homeless - 225,000 from a total population of about 400,000
Buildings destroyed - over 28,000
Monetary loss - more than $400,000,000!!!!!!!

I've also found a first hand report of the earthquake written by Edith Weatherred. One paragraph in particular caught my eye, as it shows interesting similarities and differences to the situation in New Orleans right now:

There was hurrying to get together families and friends. Excitement ran high but people were gently one with the other as they crowded in the middle of the streets, each moment fully expecting the earth to again be set in motion. Faces appeared at windows calling for help. The wounded and dying fell by the way. Thousands crowded the open squares in the heart of the city. The scenes were appalling. Those fortunate enough to get together a few personal effects were piling them in heaps in the square. Beds were made for the wounded, and, before one could realize it, the National Guards, Federal soldiers, Red Cross Society and other good people were setting up tents and tenderly caring for the sick and the dead.

It seems as though people were more cooperative in that crisis, but the horror of death and destruction was equal. Help, according to this account, was also accessible more quickly. My guess is that looting was largely prevented by this.

To learn more about the earthquake, you could also read the official report from 1907. If you would like to look at pictures, I'd suggest this site.