[4] Though thirteen people died, it might have been far worse without the actions of three heroes, who shut off the town gas and electricity and prevented a catastrophic fire.

The City Cab building and The Californian and Arlington garages, all large and fully occupied parking structures, collapsed full with cars.

[10] The Southern Pacific Company Railroad tracks were damaged in several places between Ventura and Gaviota.

The absence of post-earthquake fire permitted scientists to study earthquake damage to various types of construction.

[6] The American Legion and the Naval Reserves from the Naval Reserve Center Santa Barbara helped provide order amidst the chaos and manned posts and provided patrols throughout the town to inhibit looting of the damaged businesses and homes.

Additional fire and police personnel arrived from as far as Los Angeles to assist the sailors and soldiers in maintaining order.

This effort was undertaken by the Santa Barbara Community Arts Association, which was founded in the beginning of the 1920s and viewed the earthquake as the opportunity to rebuild the city center in the unified architectural style.

[11] Many architects were invited to design the building facades, among them Lionel Pries, James Osborne Craig, George Washington Smith, Carleton Winslow, Bertram Goodhue, and Winsor Soule.

[11] Building codes in Santa Barbara were made more stringent after the earthquake demonstrated that traditional construction techniques of unreinforced concrete, brick, and masonry were unsafe and unlikely to survive strong temblors.