It's the anniversary of the big San Francisco earthquake, the catastrophic event that engulfed the city in fire and smoke as chaos reigned. It's been called the "deadliest earthquake in US history." Just look at some of the photos!

Throughout literary history, writers have written about disaster (whether those events were experienced or just imagined). Through the written word, we can experience The Flood and The Plague. We can experience the mythical Atlantis. We can read about the Ice Age, with The Skin of Our Teeth, or imagine the disaster of an alien invasion in The War of the World. Perhaps the event is more personal, as depicted in The Story of An Hour or it may affect a group of people like Evangeline.

Photo © Origin Press.