What if there was no San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906?

     Just this past week, on April 18, 2017, it was the 111th anniversary of the powerful San Fransisco Earthquake of 1906. It was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that seemed to do the destruction of an even higher magnitude earthquake. While sources from 1906 say only 800 at the most had died from this earthquake, it did level hundreds of buildings in the San Francisco area and the fires from broken gas lines led to engulfing fires that destroyed most of what was left of the city.

     However, what if none this earthquake actually didn't happen? Would our perception of what earthquakes can do change or our knowledge on earthquakes, especially on the San Andres Fault area?
     Well, we first need to take a look at what we gained and lost from this earthquake. For one of the few gains and most important ones from this earthquake, we were able to define the Elastic-Rebound Theory that defines earthquakes still today. This, founded by Henry Fielding Reid and according to this website , states that as rocks along both sides of a fault shift, form, and slightly move, energy from these actions is formed and causes these fault lines to a very slow rate change form until the internal strength within the fault line is exceeded.  It also, in a way, led to the creation of the golden Gate Bridge and what it is today. Because of that earthquake in 1906, builders of the Golden Gate bridge had to make it sustain powerful and destructive earthquakes.
     With this earthquake, there were many losses including destruction of the San Francisco city hall, destruction of hundreds of buildings, losses of almost 800 people, and many years of rebuilding to get the city back up. It cost lots of money to do this, but in the end, some of the rebuilding helped San Fransisco make more potent buildings capable of dealing with earthquakes today. However, there is still a great number of buildings that aren't sufficient to deal with earthquakes like that of 1906 even today.
     Now, if there was no earthquake of 1906, we would have not lost many innocent lives or many historical buildings from that time that we could preserve today. However, Henry Fielding Reid may not have made his elastic rebound theory as a result and vital knowledge of earthquakes would have not been found for years to come. The Golden Gate bridge might have also been around, but it would have been much weaker and more susceptible to earthquakes like the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and any in the future.

(Oakland Bay Bridge Collapse)

     Overall, the San Fransisco earthquake of 1906 was needed in order for California and the rest of the world to be aware of what earthquakes can do, how they function, and how to make infrastructure capable of withstanding them. Without this earthquake, many lives would be saved in 1906, but would the number of lives saved be worth it in the next 111 years that lead up to today?