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Thousands will gather in the city center just after 5:00 am on Tuesday, April 18, to remember victims of the Great Earthquake. Organizers say they will also celebrate the heroism of the survivors. One hundred years ago, the first tremors struck at 5:12 in the morning, and the region shook violently for one minute. A center of culture and commerce, San Francisco was then known as the Paris of the West. Just hours earlier, I-talian tenor Enrico Caruso had appeared in the opera Carmen at the city’s opera house. The singer later recalled trembling with fear as he looked out of the window of his room at the Palace Hotel. He saw buildings topple and masonry fall, and heard the screams of men, women and children. Historian Eileen Keremitsis is a volunteer guide who recounts the tragic story for visitors. The quake was massive, at magnitude 7.8 and was centered just off the coast close to the city. The shaking damaged or destroyed thousands of buildings over a wide area, but Keremitsis says most of the devastation was caused by fires that burned uncontrolled for three days.