Largest U.S. natural disaster

As long as we’re tossing numbers around, let’s try to be accurate.

I keep seeing references to the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fires of 1906 as the largest natural disaster in U.S. history. This may depend on how you look at it.

By sheer numbers of human lives lost, the hurricane that devastated Galveston, Texas, may hold that distinction with 6,000 to 12,000 casualties.

When I asked my colleagues at other newspapers about this discrepancy, here’s what a couple had to say:
“Modern scholars think the SF toll was set artificially low at the time (bad for business) and probably was really between 3,000 and 6,000.” -- Todd Engdahl, assistant editorial page editor, The Denver Post

“Decades of meticulous research by an archivist in San Francisco has produced a death list of 3,000 and growing from the San Francisco quake. City fathers appear to have deliberately understated the death toll for fear of scaring off investors in the post-quake rush to rebuild.” -- Gary Nelson, The Arizona Republic

Author Austin Bay sent me this information from the Weather Almanac: "On Sept. 8 we observe the centennial of the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the greatest natural disaster, by number of deaths, in United States history: 8,000 by accepted figures, perhaps as many as 12,000. The tragedy killed more Americans than any other natural disaster.”

But there are other ways to measure destruction besides just looking at the number of lives lost.

Rob Bignell, opinion page editor of the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, made this point: “San Francisco arguably was a more important port and cultural center than Galveston at the time of the disasters, so SF affected the economy much more deeply and likely carried more weight on the national psyche. I suppose it would be the modern equivalent of 9/11 occurring in Duluth, Minn., rather than New York City - even if more people died in Duluth, it wouldn't have the same symbolic impact."