How much did it cost to rebulid San Francisco after the 1989 earthquake?

Question

How much did it cost to rebulid San Francisco after the 1989 earthquake? - how many dollars/ pounds worth of damage was done, how long did it take to rebuild to the city? etc any info concerning economic effects of 1989 san Fran. earthquake

Answer 1

Property losses from the disaster have been estimated to be more than $400 million.[19] An insurance industry source tallies insured losses at $235 million (equivalent to $5.62 billion in 2007 dollars[20]).

Political and business leaders strongly downplayed the effects of the earthquake, fearing loss of outside investment in the city. In his first public statement, California governor George C. Pardee emphasized the need to rebuild quickly: "this is not the first time that San Francisco has been destroyed by fire, I have not the slightest doubt that the City by the Golden Gate will be speedily rebuilt, and will, almost before we know it, resume her former great activity."[21] The earthquake itself is not even mentioned in the statement. Fatality and monetary damage estimates were manipulated.[22] In one of the most blatant attempts to cover up the realities of the earthquake, one of the photographs circulated around the country has been shown by forensic image analyst George Reid to have been altered as much as 30% to downplay the damage.[citation needed]

In the rush to rebuild the city, building standards were in fact lowered instead of strengthened "by upwards of 50%" according to historian Robert Hansen. Part of the rush to rebuild was the desire to be ready for an international exposition set to be hosted in 1915, and indeed by that year there was almost no visible damage to be seen in the city. The total disregard to earthquake safety plagues the city today, as a majority of buildings standing in the city today were built in the first half of the 20th century. Incredibly, it has been suggested that building standards did not reach even 1906 levels until the 1950s. A detailed analysis of the city today estimates that an earthquake even less powerful than the 1906 quake would completely destroy many sections of the city and result in thousands of deaths.[citation needed]



A row of refugee shacks in 1907Almost immediately after the quake (and even during the disaster), planning and reconstruction plans were hatched to quickly rebuild the city. One of the more famous and ambitious plans came from famed urban planner Daniel Burnham. His bold plan called for, among other proposals, Haussmann-style avenues, boulevards, arterial thoroughfares that radiated across the city, a massive civic center complex with classical structures, and what would have been the largest urban park in the world, stretching from Twin Peaks to Lake Merced with a large atheneum at its peak. But this plan was dismissed at the time as impractical and unrealistic. For example, real estate investors and other land owners were against the idea due to the large amount of land the city would have to purchase to realize such proposals.[citation needed]



Bird's-eye view, surrounding Ferry Building, looking west on Market Street. Photographed from tower.While the original street grid was restored, many of Burnham's proposals inadvertently saw the light of day, such as a neoclassical civic center complex, wider streets, a preference of arterial thoroughfares, a subway under Market Street, a more people-friendly Fisherman's Wharf, and a monument to the city on Telegraph Hill, Coit Tower. Furthermore, plans to move Chinatown and the poor away from the city center failed, as Chinatown was rebuilt in the newer, modern, Western form that exists today. In fact, the destruction of City Hall and the Hall of Records enabled thousands of Chinese immigrants to claim residency and citizenship, and bring in their relatives from China.[23]

The earthquake was also responsible for the development of the Pacific Heights neighborhood. The immense power of the earthquake had destroyed almost all of the mansions on Nob Hill except for the Flood Mansion. As a result, the wealthy looked westward where the land was cheap and relatively undeveloped, and where there were better views and a consistently warmer climate. In the years after the war, the "money" on Nob Hill migrated to Pacific Heights, where it has remained to this day.

Reconstruction was swift, and largely completed by 1915, in time for the Panama-Pacific Exposition which celebrated the reconstruction of the city and its "rise from the ashes".

Since 1915, the city has officially commemorated the disaster each year by gathering the remaining survivors at Lotta's Fountain, a fountain in the city's financial district that served as a meeting point during the disaster for people to look for loved ones and exchange information.