From Bee news services SAN FRANCISCO —The largest earthquake since 1906 rocked the San Francisco area at 5:04 p.m. on Oct. 17, killing hundreds of people from Oakland to Santa Cruz as buildings, freeways and part of the Bay Bridge collapsed.

The death toll at the moment is 273 but the figure is rising as more bodies are being found.       

The quake, along the San Andreas Fault, registered 7.0 on the Richter scale and hit just before the scheduled start of the third game of the World Series at Candlestick Park.

The quake was centered 10 miles northeast of Santa Cruz near the town of Davenport, according to seismologists at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

In its 15 second span, the earthquake brought wide spread death and destruction:

At least 200 people were crushed to death in their cars when a mile long section of the upper level of Interstate 880 in Oakland — the Nimitz Freeway — collapsed onto the lower level.

An undetermined number of people were killed or injured when a 50 foot section of the Bay Bridge linking Oakland and San Francisco collapsed.

Six people were crushed to death in their cars when part of an old four story brick building toppled onto the vehicles in San Francisco’s Marina District, police said.

Six people reportedly were killed in the collapse of part of the City Garden Mall in Santa Cruz.

Heavy damage was reported to buildings throughout the Bay area. In San Francisco’s Marina District, a number of older buildings either collapsed or were on fire. At the recently renovated San Francisco International Airport, ceilings collapsed and tum  bled , into .crowded passengers areas. In homes and, businesses throughout the area, windows shattered and furnishings were thrown about violently by the quake.

Bush’s pledge

Bush’s pledge to “do everything we possibly can” to aid victims of the earth quake, activated a federal disaster team Tuesday night and sent the secretary of transportation to California to assess the damage.

He also asked Vice President Dan Quayle, who was in San Diego, to travel to San Francisco and give him a firsthand report.        

At Bush’s request, Samuel K. Skinner, the transportation secretary, left the hotel where the governors’ dinner was being held and made plans to fly to San Francisco.

Quayle, in San Diego on a California tour, said he and Skinner will tour earthquake ravaged San Francisco area.

At least two smaller aftershocks were felt within 40 minutes of the quake, and geologists said many more could be expected.

There were no immediate reports of damage to the Golden Gate Bridge that connects San Francisco to Marin County to the north. The San Mateo Bridge, which crosses the bay about 10 miles south of Candle stick Park, was closed for inspection.

The Richter scale is a measure of ground motion as recorded on seismographs. Every increase of one number means a tenfold increase in magnitude; thus a reading of 7.5 reflects an earthquake 10 times stronger than one of 6.5

An earthquake of 6 on the scale can cause severe damage. A 7 reading is a “major” earthquake, capable of widespread heavy damage.

The historic San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was estimated later by seismologists to have reached a magnitude of 8.3 on the Richter scale.

The 1906 quake devastated the city. In the three days that followed that quake, fires destroyed 490 blocks within a four square mile area near the financial district. Seven hundred people were killed, thousands were injured and more than 28,000 buildings ultimately were lost.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 20, 1989