The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was an earthquake that occurred at 5:12 am (local time) on April 18, 1906. The epicenter was 3 km west of San Francisco, the surface wave magnitude was 7.7, and the seismic moment was 7.9.

Immediately after the disaster, 498 deaths were officially announced in San Francisco, 102 in San Jose and 64 in Santa Rosa. Now this figure is recognized as greatly underestimated, it is known, for example, that the victims from Chinatown were not taken into account at all in the calculations. The total death toll is currently estimated at 3,000. Of the 410,000 people in San Francisco, 225,000-300,000 were left homeless.

The total damage from the earthquake and fires was estimated in 1906 at $400 million (adjusted for inflation, the equivalent of $6.5 billion in 2006).