MISSION

The Marina Earthquake Monument - MEQM - Committee’s mission is to establish a monument to:

• Remember the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and its effects on the Bay Area
• Honor the Fireboat Phoenix, the SFFD, and the NERT program
• Educate the public about the importance of disaster preparedness
• Illuminate the historical connection between the 1906 Earthquake, the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition, and the Marina District.

MONUMENT

The original 55-year-old sixteen-foot tower monitor from the fireboat Phoenix will be incorporated into an iconic urban monument as a memorial to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It will commemorate the fireboat Phoenix and the portable Water Supply System (PWSS - invented by Assistant Chief Frank Blackburn (ret.), S.F.F.D.) that worked together to save the Marina District following a major fire caused by the 1989 “World Series Quake”.

The monument will be placed along the Marina seawall promenade opposite the Marina Green. It will serve as both a tribute to the San Francisco Fire Department’s response and interaction with neighborhood citizens in 1989, and as an educational tool that can show how the PWSS works using water from the S.F. Bay. Furthermore, it will remind the public of the importance of emergency preparedness (NERT training). Finally, it will serve as a gathering place to remember this unique San Francisco event for years to come.

San Francisco is hosting the Big Rumble (www.thebigrumble.org) throughout the City during the week of the twentieth anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake to promote disaster preparedness and earthquake science awareness (PEER symposium). The closing ceremony will be held on the Marina Green at 4:30 p.m. Mayor Gavin Newsom, Fire Chief Hayes-White, Supervisor Alioto-Pier, and other dignitaries and heros from the 1989 quake will take part in the ceremony. There will be entertainment by chanteuse Sony Holland (www.sonyholland.com) and some surprises. During the afternoon, prior to the ceremony, there will be a safety fair, musical entertainment, and S.F.F.D. demonstrations of fire apparatus and water displays on the Marina Green.