Literacy Link
We don't commonly associate fires as a major source of damage from earthquakes, yet the destruction caused by fires can often be quite severe. Fires often start during earthquakes because hydro lines can break and gas lines are frequently ruptured. The problem is then compounded because water lines that could be used to fight the fires are usually severely damaged during an earthquake.
San Francisco in ruins after the fire caused by the earthquake of 1906.
The great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 is a good example to illustrate the damage that fires can do. Over 90% of the damage to San Francisco resulted not from the earthquake, but from the fires that raged afterwards. Uncontrolled fires burned for over 3 days resulting in the almost complete destruction of over 490 city blocks. More than half the population of the city became homeless as a result of the destruction. The fire was finally stopped when large residences along a wide boulevard were dynamited in order to create a fire break, the same technique that is used to combat forest fires.