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San Francisco–Oakland earthquake of 1989
major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area, California, U.S., on Oct. 17, 1989. The strongest earthquake to hit the area since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, it caused more than 60 deaths, thousands of injuries, and widespread property damage.
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San Francisco
San Francisco is a cultural and financial center of the western United States and one of the country's most cosmopolitan cities.
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Northridge earthquake of 1994
earthquake that struck the densely populated San Fernando Valley in southern California, U.S., on Jan. 17, 1994. The third major earthquake to occur in the state in 23 years (after the 1971 San Fernando Valley and 1989 San Francisco–Oakland earthquakes), the Northridge earthquake was the state's most destructive one since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the costliest one in U.
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Earthquake
An earthquake is a sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through the Earth's crust.
This major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 occurred on April 18, 1906, at 5:12 AM off the northern California coast. The San Andreas Fault slipped along a segment about 270 miles (430 km) long, extending from San Juan Bautista in San Benito county to Humboldt county, and from there perhaps out under the sea to an unknown distance. The shaking was felt from Los Angeles in the south to Coos Bay, Oregon, in the north. Damage was severe in San Francisco and in other towns situated near the fault, including San Jose, Salinas, and Santa Rosa. At least 700 people were killed. In San Francisco the earthquake started a fire that destroyed the central business district. Geologic field studies of this earthquake led to the detailed formation of the theory that elastic rebound of strained faults causes the shaking associated with earthquakes.
Copyright © 1994-2009 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com.
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This Day in History
Feb 10
Lead Story
Kasparov loses chess game to computer, 1996
On this day in 1996, after three hours, world chess champion Gary Kasparov loses the first game of a six-game match against Deep Blue, an IBM computer…
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Titanic: The Complete Story DVD Set
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Titanic's Final Moments: Missing Pieces DVD
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