On April 18, 1906, the San Andreas Fault shifted, moving the area east of the fault southward up to three yards in some places. One-hundred years later, we in the Bay Area stand on land altered by the San Francisco earthquake and in our education, reap the knowledge that scientists derived from the earthquake about plate tectonics.

The earthquake lasted 47 seconds, spreading out from a point near San Francisco, traveling north up to Oregon, south down to Los Angeles and even into central Nevada. It registered between 7.8 and 8.3 on the Richter scale, classifying it as a “great” earthquake with only a classification of “rare great” topping it. The earthquake wrought the greatest havoc upon San Francisco, where broken pipelines, overturned heating appliances and tangled electric wires created raging fires.

It is estimated that the cumulative damage killed over 3,000 people during the earthquake. The 1906 earthquake is considered one of the United States’ most destructive natural disasters and stands in the same ranks as Hurricane Katrina.

In Palo Alto, the earthquake was not nearly as damaging. Still, furniture moved, plaster fell and roads reshaped themselves. The earthquake even destroyed a newly erected building and toppled Stanford University’s 100-foot-tall chimney, killing a guard standing below it. Yet Palo Alto recovered well enough after the earthquake to make unsuccessful attempts to lure earthquake-ravaged San Franciscans to Palo Alto with posters bearing the words, “Why not live in Palo Alto?”

Despite the great damage the San Francisco earthquake caused, it is better known for the scientific knowledge it brought the United States. Although the theory of plate tectonics would not emerge until the 1960s, the San Francisco earthquake founded major advances in the study of California’s earthquakes. The most prominent of these advances was the “theory of elastic rebound,” introduced by John Hopkins University professor Henry Fielding Reid, which corrected a widely held view that earthquakes cause land to shift rather than vice-versa. A century later, the elastic rebound theory still holds as the basic model of earthquake behavior.

The earthquake damage has not been forgotten either. Palo Alto commemorated the 100th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake in a presentation at the City Hall. It included a history of what happened in Palo Alto during the earthquake, a Red Cross presentation on how to prepare for the next big earthquake and several other presentations, including those by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Palo Alto Fire Department and the Civil Air Patrol.

San Francisco also tempered its centennial celebration with a grave look ahead. While the city welcomed tourists by adding an earthquake angle to many attractions, it also hosted the 100th Anniversary Earthquake Conference from April 18 to 21. Speakers of many professions came to the conference to discuss the possibilities of an upcoming quake and how to best prepare for it. For the Bay Area, the 100th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake was not only a time for remembrance but one for foresight.