From Sacramento and Your Neighborhood

Greetings Neighbors!

One hundred years ago this spring, San Francisco was changed forever by a force of nature beyond anyone’s imagination. As we recognize the centennial of that April 18th morning and all that followed, we have much to remember and from which to learn.

The words of Jack London in his “Story of an Eyewitness” provide a vivid account of the destruction San Franciscans experienced a century ago. He said, “On Wednesday morning at a quarter past five came the earthquake. A minute later the flames were leaping upward. In a dozen different quarters south of Market Street, in the working-class ghetto, and in the factories, fires started. There was no opposing the flames. There was no organization, no communication. All the cunning adjustments of a twentieth century city had been smashed by the earthquake. The streets were humped into ridges and depressions, and piled with the debris of fallen walls. The steel rails were twisted into perpendicular and horizontal angles. The telephone and telegraph systems were disrupted. And the great water-mains had burst. All the shrewd contrivances and safeguards of man had been thrown out of gear by thirty seconds' twitching of the earth-crust.”

San Francisco will play host to a number of events over the next few months in honor of this moment in history. Currently, two amazing and humbling photo exhibitions are on display in our public museums.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is hosting “1906 Earthquake: A Disaster in Pictures” that will be running through May 30th with approximately 100 photographs taken 100 years ago. For more information, go to their website, www.sfmoma.org, or call (415) 357-4000. The Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park has on display “After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.” Photographer Mark Klett has recreated and paired photographs depicting scenes from then and today. For more information on this exhibit, go to their website, www.thinker.org/legion/, or call (415) 863-3330. Additionally, a combination of academic, business, media, and other organizations entitled the 1906 Earthquake Centennial Alliance have put together a website with information on a variety of Northern California events at www.1906centennial.org.

While we reflect on this historic time in our City’s history, it is important to remember that we continue to live with the potential for another natural disaster. It is critical that we all be ready to respond to a wide array of emergency situations. I would like to provide you with some important information that can help keep you and your family safe in the event of an unanticipated disaster.

It’s important to keep in mind that you may have to go without running water, electricity, gas and telephones for at least three days, if not longer. The stores and businesses you depend on may be closed and emergency services may not be able to help. Those first three days are critically important, and that is why the City of San Francisco has a new online resource at www.72hours.org, which offers simple steps that can increase our safety and can help reduce anxiety about emergencies. It can help you determine a plan of action in case of a disaster or attack and offers a detailed description of what items you should keep on hand in your emergency kit. For more information, visit the website or contact the San Francisco Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security by phone at (415) 558-2700.

We have much to learn from our City’s history as well as from more recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast last year. Being prepared means taking responsibility, and we all share in the task of keeping our community and families safe from harm.

To contact Assemblyman Mark Leno’s San Francisco District Office call (415) 557-3013 or e-mail him directly at Assemblymember.Leno@asm.ca.gov