1989 Loma Prieta earthquake larger loss of life, as several of the Bay Area's major transportation structures suffered catastrophic failures. The collapse of a section of the double-deck Nimitz Freeway in Oakland was the site of the largest number of casualties for the event, but the collapse of man-made structures and other related accidents contributed to casualties occurring in San Francisco, Los Altos, and Santa Cruz. The history of earthquake investigations in California has been largely focused on the San Andreas Fault System, due to its strong influence in the state as the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate; it
Emergency management in American universities first affected by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake which destroyed much of the original construction on campus. Two of the buildings most badly damaged by the 1906 earthquake were the Old Gymnasium and campus library, these two elaborate buildings had been damaged before they were occupied so Standford officials decided to demolish them completely. In 1989 Stanford sustained further damage after the Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused them to permanently close the Old Chemistry Building which had been commissioned before the 1906 earthquake occurred. Many of the campuses historical buildings that had been damaged by both the 1906 and 1989