On 18 April 1906 a major earthquake hit San Francisco, and the resulting fires destroyed over 80% of the city, killed thousands of people, and left half of the population homeless. Misled by local propaganda as to earthquake likelihood, few residents of San Francisco had bought earthquake insurance, but they had bought fire insurance. In the wake of the devastating fires following the earthquake, many insurance companies fought paying their policyholders, often by quibbling over causality (since the insurance was not for earthquakes), or paying only 75% of the amounts due. This led to many lawsuits from policyholders. At least 14 insurers went bankrupt, and some insurers – mostly German and Austrian – simply disappeared and denied all coverage.