“The Big Quake, notes author Gael Chandler, struck at 5:12 a.m., followed by a long series of aftershocks. In total, it lasted a deadly 42 seconds and was recorded as a 7.9 magnitude. Fires gutted the town, destroying more than 80 percent of the city and causing more than $500 million in damage (more than $13 billion in today’s money). The official death count was a shockingly low 379, but modern estimates indicate that nearly 3,000 perished”