Images: The science behind the shaking

To better understand the distribution of shaking and damage that accompanied the great 1906 earthquake, seismologists have constructed computer models to recreate the ground motions. The simulations show how ground moved on the two sides of the San Andreas fault and how seismic waves radiated away from the fault to produce the shaking.

Yellow to red colors indicate regions experiencing damaging shaking. This screenshot reveals the damage after 50.4 seconds.