San Francisco, 1906 Earthquake. Fire damage

Another example of a photo taken from the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. What most people don't realise is that the bulk of the devastation was done by fire. The earthquake did cause huge structural damage but the fire spread and virtually flattened anything left. Insurance companies at the time did not protect people from earthquakes and so anything left standing was rumoured to be torched and left to burn for insurance to pay out.