Today marks the one hundredth anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. At 5:12 AM this morning, the time of the quake one hundred years ago, city officials and spectators celebrated the anniversary of the single most devastating event to befall the city.

For a few minutes 100 years ago, the San Andreas fault moved and shifted (as much as twenty feet in some places), causing a quake that would probably be rated a 7.5 on today's scales. While the quake itself was devastating -- especially to the unreinforced masonry structures which made up most of the city -- the fires afterward were worse. Tremendous fires started, burning both south of Market Street and north. The North Beach area, which today houses the city's Italian neighborhood, was completely leveled by fire. Only a few buildings -- notably the Ferry Building and the Flood Building -- survived the quake and the subsequent fires.

Read more about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake at Wikipedia.

If you're in the city and you like photographs and art museums, visit the Palace of the Legion of Honor, where a special exhibit "rephotographs" old photographs of earthquake devastation by placing photos of destroyed places alongside modern photos of those same places. Hurry! The exhibit closes May 28!