It has been 106 years but we still have survivors from 1906 San Francisco earthquake

Danny Tse

Every year, on April 18th, hundreds gather at a fountain in San Francisco to mark another anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. I've heard that there are 4 known survivors from the quake, 2 of them were able to make the annual get-togther this morning (check out the photos in the link)....

Hundreds bowed their heads before dawn Wednesday to mark the 106th anniversary of the great 1906 earthquake that practically leveled San Francisco.

Roughly 300 citizens, firefighters, police officers and city officials gathered at Lotta's Fountatin at Kearny, Geary and Market streets to honor the 3,000 who died in the quake and toast the four known living survivors.

Two survivors, George Quilici, eight days from turning 107, and Winne Hook, 106, braved the early morning cold to ride to the ceremony in the city's 1930 Lincoln convertible.

Quilici and Hook were both infants when the San Andreas Fault slipped at 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906 and the 7.9 quake rumbled toward the city. The quake set off fires that tore through the city for three days, leaving the heart of the city in ruins.

Organizers called for a minute of silence at 5:11 a.m. A minute later the dark downtown intersection filled with emergency sirens, marking the moment the quake struck. Mayor Ed Lee hung a memorial wreath on the fountain.

Neither Quilici nor Hook remembers the devastation, but they were still hailed as celebrities at the early morning event. The two sat with bemused expressions in the back of the antique convertible while well-wishers scurried over the take pictures.

Quilici was at home above his father's saloon at Columbus and Bay streets when the quake struck. The salooneventually burned to the ground, and his family moved to Hunters Point, Quilici said.

Hook, who was just two months old in 1906, was in Oakland when the quake struck, she said. She said the celebration in her honor was just "awesome."

Two other survivors, Bill Del Monte, 106, and Ruth Newman, 110, did not attend the early morning festivities.

Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said the survivors - she spoke with Del Monte Tuesday using Skype - embodied San Francisco's spirit.

"We celebrate the resolve of our city, which was nearly swept from the map," she told the crowd.

Kimberley Mikel of San Francisco wore a 1906-style top hat and coat to the ceremony. Mikel, who is a member of her neighborhood disaster response team, said she enjoyed celebrating San Francisco's quake-filled history.

"I really remember the (1989) Loma Prieta earthquake. I was in the Marina at the time." Mikel said. "I had to hold on.

"I'm just so amazed that these people made it out here," she said, referring to Quilici and Hook. "That they were there."

When a reporter asked Hook if she would be back for next year's celebration, she paused.

"If you can make it warmer," she said.