San Francisco marks earthquake centennial

SIRENS wailed through the city before dawn yesterday as residents marked the moment 100 years earlier when the Great Quake shattered the city, killing thousands as it levelled buildings and touched off fires that burned for days.

A handful of centenarians who survived that devastation joined hundreds of residents for a moment of silence and a memorial ceremony to remember one of the worst natural disasters in US history.

“What an extraordinary example, the pioneering spirit that defines our past, I would argue defines our present and gives me optimism of the future,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom. “San Francisco, a city of dreamers. And San Francisco, a city of doers.”