When was the great San Francisco earthquake?

The earthquake hit at 5:12 a.m. with an estimated magnitude of about 7.9, rupturing the San Andreas Fault for roughly 470 kilometres. The shaking lasted less than a minute, but broken gas lines started fires that burned for several days. About 80 percent of the city was destroyed, and more than half of its roughly 400,000 residents were left homeless. Modern estimates put the death toll at around 3,000 people or more. The disaster led to major advances in the science of earthquakes, including the elastic-rebound theory.