Today in History: April 18, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

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Today is Saturday, April 18, the 108th day of 2026. There are 257 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 18, 1906, the deadliest earthquake in U.S. history struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires across the city. More than 3,000 people are believed to have been killed by the quake, which was estimated to have reached as high as 7.9 magnitude.

Also on this date:

In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts, warning colonists that British Regular troops were approaching.

In 1942, in the first World War II attack on the Japanese mainland, 16 U.S. Army Air Force B-25 bombers conducted an air raid, led by Lt. Col. James Doolittle, over Tokyo and several other Japanese cities.

In 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 76.

In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.

In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber driving a van laden with explosives.

In 2015, a ship carrying migrants from Africa sank in the Mediterranean off Libya. As many as 700 people are believed to have drowned.

In 2016, “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop stage biography of America’s first treasury secretary, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

In 2023, Fox and Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787.5 million settlement in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit, averting a trial in a case that exposed how the top-rated network promoted falsehoods regarding the 2020 presidential election.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Hayley Mills is 80. Actor James Woods is 79. Actor Rick Moranis is 73. Actor Eric Roberts is 70. Actor Jane Leeves is 65. Ventriloquist-comedian Jeff Dunham is 64. Talk show host Conan O’Brien is 63. Actor Eric McCormack is 63. Actor Maria Bello is 59. Football Hall of Famer Willie Roaf is 56. Actor David Tennant is 55. Filmmaker Eli Roth is 54. Football Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks is 53. Filmmaker Edgar Wright is 52. Actor Melissa Joan Hart is 50. Former MLB All-Star Miguel Cabrera is 43. Actor America Ferrera is 42. Actor Vanessa Kirby is 38. Actor Lillee Jean is 25.