100 years later, quake's dead still being counted

Challenges along the way
It's been a difficult task and has become Hansen's life's work.

For instance, counting the dead in Chinatown has proven particularly challenging. It remains a mystery to this day why only a dozen Asian names appear on any lists of the dead given the destruction that the earthquake and fires brought to densely populated immigrant districts.

“You look at Chinatown, 500 people could have died in Chinatown,’ said Dalessandro. Hansen has tried repeatedly to account for the number of Chinese killed in the disaster, but information is scarce.

Just determining the parameters of her search were an issue when Hansen began her project — she needed a definition of what was considered "an earthquake death." The definition provided by medical authorities was someone who dies at the time of the quake, or within one year of the quake as a result of an injury received during the catastrophe.

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That opened the door for Hansen to search death registrars, coroner’s books, newspapers, city directories, old maps and church journals for bits of information and leads. It is, in many ways, like doing detective work for the bureau of missing persons.

Recently the computer has helped Hansen’s project. Descendants have sent e-mails from as far away as Germany with information about lost relatives.

Many will remain nameless  
"If I can get the name, I prefer it, but many will go nameless," said a resigned Hansen.

She explained that one of the inherent difficulties in identifying victims of the quake and fire that followed lays in the timing of the disaster.

"It was 5 o'clock in the morning when this earthquake occurred and then the fires came. People were leaving their houses without shoes on, [only] in night dress, and running into all kinds of things.… There's no way of tracing who they were."

In many instances, all she can depend on now are old family records or stories of lost loved ones. For instance, people who had extended family elsewhere, but who were never heard from again after the quake occurred.

"People just don't disappear unless there was a reason, and this reason was something that could not be helped," said Hansen.

'San Franciscan for a day'
Hansen may still be counting, but her efforts have paid off. On January 25, 2005, San Francisco Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution authored by Dalessandro and Hansen that set aside the 1907 official death count of 478.

And for Hansen, who doesn't get paid or sponsored for her work, says she feels a deep sense of reward.

“San Francisco at that time was a tourist city and we had people from throughout the world here," she said. "Many died here and, to me, if you cared enough about stopping in this city, we should recognize you as being a San Franciscan for a day, or a week, or whatever.”  

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