The 1989 earthquake of San Francisco
It was 5:04 pm on the 17th of October, 1989 when San Francisco's Bay Area was struck by a devastating earthquake. It came to be named the Loma Prieta earthquake, the Quake of '89 and even the World Series Earthquake (because it occurred during the 1989 baseball world series' warm up matches).
The quake lasted a mere 15 seconds but left between 3000 to 12000 people homeless, killing 63 people, of which 42 lost their lives in Oakland.
One section of the Bay Bridge spanning 50ft also collapsed in this earthquake causing one death. The losses resulting from this earthquake were estimated at $6 billion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake
http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906/89.html
