[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 47 (Wednesday, April 26, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE OF 1906

                                 ______
                                 

                               TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 26, 2006

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, 100 years ago on April 18, 1906 at 5:12 a.m. 
the Bay Area was struck by one of the most catastrophic natural 
disasters in modern history as San Francisco, a great city of 400,000, 
was shaken to rubble and burned.
  The quake, estimated at a magnitude of 7.8, killed some 3,000 people 
and rendered homeless as many as three-quarters of the entire city's 
population. Other disastrous consequences soon followed as a massive 
firestorm created by ruptured natural gas mains swept across the city. 
The quake's destruction of water mains and cisterns left the fire 
department able to do little but dynamite buildings in a futile effort 
to stop the relentless advance of the flames. Separate fires converging 
in the downtown area created an inferno that destroyed nearly 500 city 
blocks and took four days to quell.
  Officials of local, state and federal agencies attempted to deal with 
the massive chaos, but disruption of communications and the scale of 
destruction made it difficult to maintain order.
  The aftermath of the quake, Mr. Speaker, was even more catastrophic 
than its initial effects. As many as 300,000 San Franciscans were 
homeless and there was great risk of disease, water contamination, and 
crime. The total scale of damage was immense with over 80% of the city 
destroyed and over $400 million in damage in 1906 dollars. Adjusted for 
today's dollars, the cost would be over $8 billion in damage. I know 
some of you have read or are reading Simon Winchester's A Crack in the 
Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906. 
Winchester recounts this extraordinary story of disaster, response and 
recovery, and I recommend his excellent book.
  Mr. Speaker, the recovery from the quake changed San Francisco 
forever. The response to the disaster was truly remarkable--and much 
more impressive than the United States government's response to the 
Katrina disaster last fall.
  Following the devastation, the call for help went out. The first 
relief train with wagonloads of packaged food and medicine arrived in 
Oakland from Los Angeles at midnight on the day of the disaster--less 
than 20 hours after the first rumbling of the earthquake. The War 
Department and Congress acted. Trains were sent from every corner of 
the nation. Every military tent in the country was sent to house the 
refugees. Within weeks ten percent of the United States Army was in the 
Bay Area.
  A U.S. military officer, second in command at the Presidio, Brigadier 
General Fred Funston, did not wait for orders, did not wait for his 
boss to return from out of town, and did not wait or hesitate to take 
the initiative. He immediately ordered troops from the Presidio and 
Fort Mason to come to the aid of the city, and he sent dispatches 
demanding help.
  Mr. Speaker, the House Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the 
Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina recently released its 
final report entitled, ``A Failure of Initiative.'' This 379-page 
report details 90 findings of failure at all levels of government and 
lays primary fault with the passive reaction and misjudgments of top 
Administration officials, including the Homeland Security Secretary, 
the Homeland Security Operations Center and the White House Homeland 
Security Council. It concludes that ``earlier presidential involvement 
could have speeded the response'' because the President could have cut 
through all bureaucratic resistance.
  The White House has issued its own report, ``The Federal Response To 
Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned,'' which identified 17 lessons the 
executive branch learned after reviewing and analyzing the response to 
Katrina, made 125 specific recommendations to the President, and listed 
11 critical actions to be completed before June 1, 2006, when hurricane 
season begins again.
  It is not like the events of Katrina were unique or original. The 
disaster in San Francisco a century earlier gave us clear indications 
of what to do and what not to do. On February 16, 2006 the San 
Francisco Chronicle editorialized that there is ``a bigger message than 
the rearview-mirror blame-game that goes with government bungling. 
California and the Bay Area remain at nature's mercy from weather, 
earthquakes or fire. It's time to check and recheck local plans to make 
sure everyone's on the same page, and emergency planners can take on 
the dicey game of managing disasters on the fly.''
  And furthermore, ``Emergency workers have tried to anticipate such 
disasters, working hard to prepare the response of public-safety 
agencies and the public. Still, as Katrina showed, the results can 
hinge on official judgment and initiative. Let's make sure we're 
ready.''
  In early 2001, FEMA warned against three major disasters that could 
face the nation: a terrorist attack on New York City, a major hurricane 
in New Orleans, and an earthquake in San Francisco. Yet according to a 
recent letter from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff 
to California Senator Barbara Boxer, the Department of Homeland 
Security has no specific federal strategy for responding to a 
catastrophic earthquake in California and will depend primarily on 
local and state efforts. As Benjamin Franklin warned, by failing to 
prepare we prepare to fail.
  Mr. Speaker, as we remember the 100th Anniversary of the great San 
Francisco Earthquake and Fire I commend the people of San Francisco who 
demonstrated the determination of recovery and renewal that rebuilt the 
great city by the Bay. To me that San Francisco spirit is a key part of 
the American spirit. It is the dream that brought the 49ers of the Gold 
Rush era to California, and it was the dream that rebuilt San Francisco 
after the disaster of 1906. It was the dream that built Silicon Valley, 
that brought to California the miracle of biotechnology and stem cell 
research.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in commending the 
people of San Francisco and the Bay Area as they celebrate this 
historic anniversary, and in calling on federal, state and local 
government officials to learn from the tragic events of the Earthquake 
of 1906 and the equally tragic events of the Katrina disaster of 2005 
to prepare for the catastrophic events that will surely come in the 
future.

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