Unfortunately for Santa Cruz, the
lessons of the past had been forgotten by 1989. These photographs
show damage in Santa Cruz from the 1906 San Francisco quake. The root
cause of the damage in 1906 was the same as in 1989:
unreinforced masonry buildings constructed on loose sediments subject to
intense shaking and liquefaction.
Collapsed buildings and crushed car, Pacific Garden Mall, Santa Cruz (photo by Jeff Marshall): As the second story of this building collapsed, its facade fell into the street, knocking down the tree which in turn damaged the car. This building in downtown was one of the heavily damaged buildings situated on the unconsolidated flood plain sediments of the San Lorenzo River.
The Cooper house (photo by Jeff Marshall):
Built in 1895, it had long been an historic landmark in Santa Cruz. The
building served as the county courthouse until 1945. This building
sustained extensive damage in 1906; a large tower was removed several
years after the quake, and the massive masonry structure was repaired.
The building was remodeled and restored as a shopping complex in the
early 1970s', and retrofitted for seismic safety in the 1980s'. This
work may have succeded in preventing the collapse of the building in the
1989 quake. Most of the damage was not to the structural integrity of
the building. Instead, it is mainly from the collapse of the decorative
masonry cornice. Unfortunately however the structural damage was
warranted great enough to condemn the building. This picture clearly
represents the dangers of being near the outside of buildings during
earthquakes, especially those with ornate facades.
Watsonville
Cyclery, Watsonville (photo by Jeff Marshall: This photo shows typical
damage to
brick walls and large plate glass windows. The red "X's" indicate that
the buiding has been condemned. Note that the person who condemned the
building also condemned the owner's baseball alliegance. This earthquake
occurred during the second game of the World Series between the A's and
the Giants. After a two week delay caused by the earthquake, the A's
went on to sweep the series. Neither team has since achieved a shred of the
glory reached that year.
House Sheared off foundation, Corralitos
(photo by Jeff Marshall): In Watsonville and the surrounding area, many
older wood frame houses
were sheared several feet off their foundations by the strong ground
motions. Despite this, the structure of many of the houses themselves
remained relatively intact. This points out the weaknesses in the
support design of these houses.
