Earthquakes. They shake buildings, they wobble structures, they dismantle even the most stable construction. They leave people without homes, destroy possessions. The San Francisco earthquake in 1906 left at least half of the population homeless. But people have similar and different views and opinions on this earthquake, and that is seen “Comprehending the Calamity” by Emma Burke and in Fred Hewitt’s “Horrific Wreck of the City”. In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake struck a little after five in the morning. The earthquake, at a magnitude of 7.8, shook and destroyed buildings. At least 250,000 people were homeless, and many camped out in a park. But that wasn't all. Water and gas mains broke, and from the gas mains started a whole new devastation. These gas mains started a fire that rampaged the city for four days. Water was …show more content…
For example, on page one of “Comprehending the Calamity”, Emma writes, “The chimney came tearing through; a great marine picture weighing one hundred and twenty-five pounds crashed down, not eight feet away from us; we were frequently shaken loose from our hold on the door, and only kept our feet by mutual help.” Similarly, on page one of "Horrific Wreck of the City", Fred records the following: “Then came the crash. Tons upon tons of that mighty pile slid away from the steel framework and destructiveness of that effort was enormous.” The destructiveness of the earthquake is clearly shown in both texts: Emma describes a chimney falling through her roof, while Fred writes about a building collapsing. These two texts give descriptions of terrifying destruction. The similarly describe the crash the sounded when the object hit, the damage it caused, and the fear they felt. Fred and Emma similarly give detailed descriptions of the horror they faced. Both texts are undeniably similar when using descriptive
Statement of the Problem Among the events that have had a drastic shaping on human events throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are natural disasters. Often times, a natural disaster will leave residents of affected areas in a state of awe as they seek to understand what exactly happened. One such example is Hurricane Hugo.
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire or 1906 Introduction: The San Francisco earthquake and fire was a huge catastrophic event that affected the city people, the city as a whole, and the Chinese people and culture. Within the 40 seconds of terror, everything San Francisco was known for was leveled to the ground. How it affected the City This 8.3 magnitude earthquake ruined the whole city and broke the hearts of the people inside of it.
Sooner or later, the city was burnt to the ground. A couple days later, the fire stopped. There was a lot of people effected and a lot of damage done. The city builders learned their lesson. There was no warning from humans that there was going to be a fire, but one from nature.
The impact of the New Madrid earthquake, although did not result in a lot of fatalities or destruction, left lasting effects on the land and those involved. Many did not know what to do, and it caused terror and fear in those who were ill prepared for the earthquake. It remains the largest earthquake in North America, and will always be remembered in the hearts of the Americans.
In A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit focuses on the occurrences of the aftermaths of five major North American disasters and how strong bonds within communities form because of those disasters. Each case study provides a concrete description of what surviving residents themselves understand to be an unusual sociological change arising in the midst of casualties, disorientation, homelessness, and significant loss of all kinds. Reflecting on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; the enormous 1917 explosion in Halifax, Nova Scotia; the devastating 1985 Mexico City quake; Lower Manhattan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks; and Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 deluge of New Orleans, Solnit brings a new perspective to these heart-wrenching tragedies. Solnit tells many enlightening stories of altruism and courageous social action. Moreover, although providing insight on these tragedies, Solnit presents her case with a redundant political bias and can seem to show problems that were not there.
Acts of God: Chapters 1-2 In Acts of God, Ted Steinberg uncovers, among other things, how natural disasters have come to be perceived as beyond human control. Steinberg contends that the book focuses on the environmental, cultural, and social history of natural disasters. The text also expands on the relationship between humans and natural disasters. Indeed, chapter one elaborates on the Mount Pelee attraction on Coney Island and the history of calamity in Charleston, South Carolina.
Social determinants have become an influential component of innovation within traditional areas of research, from overall health of communities to disaster management. Starting in the 1980’s, researchers began to understand that social contexts, both micro and macro, have a significant impact on both individuals and the community as a whole when discussing response and resilience to disasters. After the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, after the sheer difference of separate populations ability to cope during the disaster area came to light, researchers began to elucidate the social factors which affect disaster response and ways to assess those for future disasters. The three largest areas of concerns that should be considered are social stratification and class, race and
The quake went even worse at 4:37 AM, because at this time buildings started to fall down, flood started to come, and some buildings was burnt by fire. At 4:39 AM is the worst situation, because some highways
Both texts, make use of of the reader’s interpretations to depict the character’s physical
He couldn 't even scream because he was choking on dust and barley move because he was being crushed be falling bricks. This book is about the massive earthquakes in San Francisco that occurred at 5:12 am on April 18th, 1906. The earthquakes terrified hundreds of thousands of people instantly. Thousands of people were killed, crushed to death by houses, buildings,
Both of the characters tell the audience about their experiences of the society at the time using three technical devices:1st person narration, soliloquies, and epical reports. (Bange 1982, 77), as for instance in the following: page 13: “Old Spencer started nodding”.(epical report)…pretty disgusting to watch(1st person narration)… ́They are grand people”(epical narration.)I could
✩ = delete this part before you begin your final draft! ✩INTRODUCTION: ✩Hook (Find an attention-getting way to start your essay. You can talk about the 1906 earthquake): In 1906 there was an earthquake in San Francisco that hit the coast of northern california at 5:12 a.m on April 18th, 3,000 people died, because of this an author named Emma Burke wrote an article called “Comprehending the Calamity” and an fictitious character named Moon Shadow would like to share their perspective on how their felt.
There are a lot of unexpected thing happened to our life. The Valdivia earthquake and Alaskan earthquakes is the most strongest earthquakes that ever happen in the world and this earthquakes are giving both of the two country a very big impact to their population and economy, they also losing a lot of people, housed, money and a huge of the area that earthquakes happened got damage. By the way one of the American author, Thomas Sowell, had said that “All thing are the same except for the differences and different except for the similarities” and that it true however both of them are the top strongest earthquakes but they are some different and similarity between them. Valdivia earthquake and Alaska earthquake are happened in America.
The earthquake of 2010 was a 7.0 on the Richter Scale. This large earthquake caused the death of 230,000 people. This was due to poor building structure and little warning. There were too many bodies to move and so few people who were capable of moving them (due to injuries) that the bodies would just be piled up on roads and in city squares. As a result of the earthquake, a total of 10,000 children were left orphaned.
For example, there would be a difference in temperature since I doubt the father would take the boy out in weather anywhere near -75 degrees Fahrenheit. Plus in "Powder" the boy and his father are in the protection of their car whereas in "To Build a Fire," they are physically walking through the snow nearly frozen to death. Their situation in "To Build a Fire" is quite serious due to the fact that it is life or death. Unlike Jack London's excerpt, Tobias Wolff's is not as drastic since the story is regarding the trust between two