In dollars and cents, the 1989 Loma Prieta quake was the costliest earthquake at $5.9 billion, whereas the 1906 San Francisco quake totaled a mere $400 million.
Some would argue that in today’s money, that would equal about $7.6 billion dollars.
However, in today’s money, the 1989 damage would equal about $8.2 billion.
So do the math and provide your own estimates. The point here is that monetary value and currency is not constant and changes throughout the years, sometimes quite drastically.
