Quake! Long Beach 1933

This 1933 silent documentary, QUAKE! Its effect on Long Beach and Compton California, shot in black-and-white 16mm by Guy D. Haselton, opens with an animated “Quake!” title shaking. Excellent footage maps the 6.4 magnitude Long Beach earthquake’s toll: damaged buildings, the wrecked Carnegie Library, and Compton’s ruined City Hall and market. Oil derricks loom amid smoke, a seismograph record is inspected, and tents house displaced residents, including a fire station and church. Amid destruction, a librarian serves readers outside, kids browse books, and workers rebuild using salvaged bricks. A pre-war record, it captures resilience but may downplay systemic failures in seismic preparedness.