earthquake was one of the nation's worse n aturaldisasters striking densely populated san francisco with verocity. in disaster as in war the truth itself can be a casualty. >> reporter: san francisco streets were still smoldering, it's dead still buried in rubble but for many in the city the first priority wasn't rescue, it was down playing the disaster. >> there was a calculated effort thomasing -- calculated effort of the 1906 earth quake. >> there were buried bodies, burned bodies and a proclamation for officers to shoot and kill. and when looters were found officers did shoot to kill. and there was a report that 106 people were dead. >> i knew there had to be more. >> reporter: the real death toll was at least 3,000 perhaps 6,000. >> eugene smith the mayor of san francisco. his number one priority was to get the city of san francisco rebuilt. he was not concerned with an accurate portrayal of the dead. >> reporter: james delasandro was the author of the novel 1906. he believes the mayor and government tried to cover for the loom and doom to cover up their own mistakes and to try to bring back