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Of the thousands of cities flooded, burned, leveled by earthquakes, or otherwise destroyed over the last 3,000 years, all but a few have been rebuilt – sometimes stronger and safer, and sometimes not.
CHICAGO, 1871. The Great Fire destroyed 18,000 buildings and left 100,000 people – more than a third of the population – homeless. Despite the vast devastation, the city was substantially rebuilt in two years – in less flammable brick and stone. Above, a panicked crowd rushes over the Randolph Street bridge.
CHICAGO, 1871. The Great Fire destroyed 18,000 buildings and left 100,000 people – more than a third of the population – homeless. Despite the vast devastation, the city was substantially rebuilt in two years – in less flammable brick and stone. Above, a panicked crowd rushes over the Randolph Street bridge. (Photo: Hultonarchive/Illustrated London News/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, 1906. A massive earthquake obliterated 28,000 buildings and left half the population of 400,000 without shelter. Civic leaders, insisting that the quake had actually made the region safer, rushed to rebuild. But state building codes were not substantially altered until several decades later, after a devastating quake in southern California.
SAN FRANCISCO, 1906. A massive earthquake obliterated 28,000 buildings and left half the population of 400,000 without shelter. Civic leaders, insisting that the quake had actually made the region safer, rushed to rebuild. But state building codes were not substantially altered until several decades later, after a devastating quake in southern California. (AP File Photo)
HOLLAND, 1953. In the nation's worst disaster in more than 300 years, the dikes protecting the southwestern part of the country were breached by unusually high spring tides and hurricane-force winds, killing nearly 2,000 people and swamping 200,000 hectares of land. Construction of a huge system of moveable storm surge walls, sluices, and dams – recommended in a policy document published 3 days before the disaster – began immediately.
HOLLAND, 1953. In the nation's worst disaster in more than 300 years, the dikes protecting the southwestern part of the country were breached by unusually high spring tides and hurricane-force winds, killing nearly 2,000 people and swamping 200,000 hectares of land. Construction of a huge system of moveable storm surge walls, sluices, and dams – recommended in a policy document published 3 days before the disaster – began immediately. (Keystone / Getty Images Photo)
BANDA ACEH, 2004. The rebuilding in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where as many as 130,000 people were killed and another half a million left homeless in last December's tsunami, has been complicated by the conflict between the government and separatist guerrillas.
BANDA ACEH, 2004. The rebuilding in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where as many as 130,000 people were killed and another half a million left homeless in last December's tsunami, has been complicated by the conflict between the government and separatist guerrillas. (Globe Staff File Photo / Essdras M. Suarez)