Disaster 60 Years Ago

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31255, 30 December 1966, Page 1

Disaster 60 Years Ago

The medallion to the right, commemorating the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906, may have been dropped in a Christchurch garden by a schoolchild 60 years ago, and lain buried ever since.

It was recently dug up by Mr G. Buckland on a property at 451 Manchester street north, which 60 years ago was the site of an infant

school conducted by a Miss Edgar.

The medallion, in a good state of preservation when dug up by Mr Buckland, has since been cleaned and polished.

The San Francisco earthquake and fire, in which 452 persons died, was one of the great disasters of this century. The gas mains of the city were broken by the earthquake and ignited. The water mains being also broken, the fire could not be fought, and destroyed more than half the city. Contemporary reports in “The Press” said: “In the

early morning, when the severest shock was felt, most of the inhabitants of the city were asleep. The terrified people rushed from their beds into the streets in their night attire. Buildings tottered and crashed down, and chimneys, cornices, and walls fell in all directions. Many were crushed and mangled by the falling buildings. The terror and excitement were indescribable.”

San Francisco at the best of times was a rather lawless, polyglot eity, springing from the gold-rush days—and such was the disaster and panic,