Yesterday, quite a few people recalled for us the earthquake that struck San Francisco a hundred years ago.
Not me.
A hundred years ago today the citizens of San Francisco got out of the beds where they had slept fitfully the night before and went to work. They began to put out the fires, bury the dead, care for the injured and destitute, and re-build their city which had been ravaged by the earthquake and the firestorms that followed it.
The Bank of Italy (later renamed the Bank of America) began to make re-building loans out of a tent.
The soldiers stationed at the Presidio began to restore the peace and build temporary housing for those left homeless.
They took charge, helped themselves, and built a new city on the ashes of the old.
You can remember the earthquake; I will recall the re-birth.
I’m remembering the phoenix.
Resources on the Earthquake and the recovery:
U. S. Geological Survey Site on the earthquake
