Natural disasters are terrible: terrible to endure, terrible to remember, even terrible to read about. In the United States, brave souls have suffered through wildfires, floods, landslides, some horrific tornadoes, the Chicago fire, and even the 1964 Alaskan tsunami that followed the strongest earthquake to hit the North American continent (8.4). But nothing compares to the recent rash of hurricanes that have plagued the South and Southeast, capped by last year's Katrina. Until then, the mother of all natural disasters had been the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The 100th anniversary of that quake occurs this month, on April 18.

While doing research on the web, I came across www.eyewitnesstohistory.com. In a section on the San Francisco earthquake, there were bone-chilling eyewitness accounts of the suffering and devastation. Some samples from that site:

• "Big buildings were crumbling as one might crush a biscuit in one's hand. Ahead of me a great cornice crushed a man as if he were a maggot."
• "… there were three men on the roof and it was impossible to get them down. Rather than see the crazed men fall in with the roof and be roasted alive, the military officer directed his men to shoot them, which they did in the presence of 5,000 people."
• "…the sergeant had in his charge one precious bottle of whiskey, from which he doled out drinks to those who were utterly exhausted."
• "The air was filled with falling stones. People around me were crushed to death on all sides."
• "I saw a drove of cattle, wild with fright, rushing up Market Street. As they came nearer, they disappeared [into a chasm], seeming to drop out into the earth."
• "There must have been 10,000 people trying to get onto [the ferry] boat. Men and women fought like wildcats to push their way aboard. Clothes were torn from the backs of men and women and children indiscriminately."
• "The helpless man watched in silence till the fires began burning his feet. Then he screamed and begged to be killed. The policeman took his name and address, and then shot him through the head."

This month's cover story (beginning on page 22) revisits the scene of the 1906 quake and compares the aftermath and responses to those of Hurricane Katrina. With the comparisons of the two come questions of the human reactions to the events; insurance challenges that ensued and how they were handled then vs. now; government aid, action and, yes, inaction; future preparedness steps that were put in place following San Francisco and being contemplated following Katrina; and the list goes on. This is the first installment of a two-part article; the second installment will appear in the May issue.

It makes for fascinating and educational reading. But fascinating might be an inappropriate word. However, having used just about every imaginable adjective earlier, we'll have to settle for ghastly, shocking, or appalling. We'll let that be your call, after you've finished reading both installments.