The Great Quake Centennial The Great Quake of April 18, 1906 ranks as one of the most significant earthquakes of all time. This year so of course I had to wake up at 4:30 am to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The Great Quake ruptured the northernmost 296 miles (477 kilometers) of the San Andreas fault in the wee hours of the morning. The fire that followed leveled much of the city that survived the initial shaking. San Francisco burned for the next three days before the fire was under control and the city once known as the Paris of the Pacific existed only in memory. For the last 100 years, people have commemorated the event by meeting at the same time each year on Market Street at Lotte's Fountain.

This year they set up