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CNN Sunday Morning
What Happens in the Wake of a Devastating Earthquake?
Aired June 24, 2001 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So, what happens in the wake of such a devastating earthquake. For some insights into these massive earthquakes, our guest has written a book on the worst quake in U.S. history. Dan Kurzman is the author of "Disaster: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906." He's with us this morning from New York.
We welcome you to our program, Mr. Kurzman.
DAN KURZMAN, AUTHOR, "DISASTER": Delighted to be here.
O'BRIEN: All right, just give us a sense -- obviously, neither of us are in Peru this morning and have any first-hand knowledge of what's going on there, but based on your research on what happened 95 years ago in San Francisco, what generally happens? How do people react in the wake of something as devastating as this?
KURZMAN: Well, in San Francisco, the people ran out into the street as their houses collapsed all over the place, and they were very hysterical because they thought that the world was coming to an because this was a 7.9, apparently, a 7.9 earthquake, and San Francisco was 8.3, a little bit bigger.
But it's enough to destroy a whole city, and people just went mad, and there was interesting episodes which are probably happening in Peru at the same time because -- for example, there was one who was having a child delivered just at the moment that the earthquake struck, and the midwife ran out, leaving her with a baby half-born, and it was up to her seven-year-old daughter to finish the delivery, and then the house went on fire, and how they got out was a miracle, but I'd guess you'd have to see my book to see what happened.
But there were terrible things that happened to people who were crushed under the wreckage, they couldn't get out. But of course, in San Francisco, there was this great fire that followed, and people were unable to get out before the fire reached them, and thousands actually died -- they died in the fire, they were burned alive, and the...
O'BRIEN: Tell us, was the fire the bigger disaster in many senses?
KURZMAN: Well, that's what San Francisco would like to have you think because the fire, you can always say, well, it's a man-made -- it happens on Earth and man can do something about it whereas an earthquake, only God can control. But the fact is that the earthquake did the worst damage, and destroyed everybody, you know, everybody that was in these houses that collapsed.
But the fire did also considerable damage because it burned alive those who couldn't get out of the wreckage. There was one example...
O'BRIEN: Mr Kurzman, before you get into that, let me just ask you this: What's the hardest period of time, based on your research, for survivors of an earthquake like this? Is it the period immediately following, when all those potential aftershocks occur or does it occur some months later?
KURZMAN: You mean when -- how long it takes? I don't quite understand it.
O'BRIEN: What's the most difficult period for people who survive such an earthquake, based on your research?
KURZMAN: Well, the most difficult period of time is right after the earthquake hits because then you're stunned. You don't know what's happened, you think the world is coming to an end, and you just -- you go mad. You run out into the street, and you manage somehow to run to open spaces. For example, they ran in San Francisco -- in San Francisco, they ran to Golden Gate Park. There were 200,000 people who ran there.
But one thing it did do in San Francisco, and maybe it'll do that in Peru, too, is it eliminated the classless society, so to speak, because everybody suffered the same way, the rich and the poor, and in Golden Gate park, for example, there were people who were in mink coats sitting next to Chinese laundry men, and at that time, the Chinese were considered as third class citizens and nobody would get near them, and so when the disaster was over, people had the feeling that there were brothers, there you know.
And also, it brings out a spirit, a disaster like that, that you can't imagine. There was this couple, for example, who were going to get married on the very day that the earthquake was to take place, and they decided even after the earthquake and the fire was burning already, they were going to get married regardless, and the bride dressed up in her white gown, and everything -- you know, they had the ceremony, and they even lifted glasses for a toast.
The unfortunate thing was that there was no water to put in the glasses because there was no water to put out the fire. All the water mains had been broken, and they didn't have any wine because the wine was being used to try to put out the fire. There were a great number of vats in San Francisco, and that's all they had, and so that's why the fire just went uncontrolled and burned down the who city.
O'BRIEN: I guess you could call that truly a rocky marriage, at least at the start.
(CROSSTALK) O'BRIEN: Mr. Kurzman, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Once again, the title of the book is "Disaster: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire." he join us from New York.
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