rthquakes and fires before. During the previous 140 years in which records were kept, the earliest large shock occurred in June of 1836; scientists later estimated that it may have been as severe as 8.0 on the Richter Scale, what was to become the standard measure of earthquakes. By the quake of 1868, San Francisco finally had enough people and buildings for a large quake to do some damage. The 7.5 magnitude quake that shook the city that year killed 12 people and caused more than $400,000 in property damage. Yet 1906 began quietly, and, during the first 16 days of April that year, the city experienced no tremors strong enough to be recorded at all. In a meeting held on Tuesday evening, April 17, 1906, to discuss emergency planning, city officials congratulated themselves on the city's prosperity and tranquility: "San Francisco had one of the finest fire departments in the world and had remained free of conflagration for almost fifty-five years. There hadn't been a killer earthquake since 1868, and, as everyone knew, hurricanes and tornadoes belonged
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