Huge earthquake kills 62 in San Fran and East German leader steps down

This week in 1986, a powerful earthquake rocked San Francisco killing 63 people, injuring thousands, and damaging over 100,000 buildings. In the hours immediately after the the earthquake, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, the number of dead was expected to rise significantly, but the final death toll was well below the 300 expected deaths.

The reason for the lowerthan-expected death toll was put down to the fact that most people had left work early to catch the third of the World Series baseball games, which was being shown on TV.

Supporters waiting inside Candlestick Park to see the match between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics were also caught up in the quake.

Fans ran onto the pitch as the whole stadium swayed.

More than 12,000 San Franciscans were made homeless by the earthquake.

Back on home soil, the Guildford Four had their convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal following an extensive inquiry into the original police investigation.

Emerging from the court, one of the four, Gerard Conlon, told to the waiting crowds: “I have been in prison for something I did not do. I am totally innocent.”

The investigation into the case – widely considered to be the biggest miscarriage of justice in Britain – was carried out by Avon and Somerset Police.

They found serious flaws in the way Surrey police noted the confessions of the four men who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for 15 years for the Guildford pub bombing in England in 1975.

Elsewhere this week, the Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, was forced to step down as leader of the country.After 18 years in power he was replaced by Egon Krenz.

The official reason for his departure was said to be “ill health”, but failure to deal with the wave of discontentment sweeping the country and the party was thought to have been the real reason he was forced to step down.