Quake shakes Pacific Northwest

Depth level of quake spares area from crushing damage

Posted: Thursday, March 01, 2001

SEATTLE - A powerful earthquake rocked the Northwest on Wednesday, shattering windows, showering bricks onto sidewalks, and sending terrified crowds running into the streets in cities including Seattle and Portland, Ore.

Despite the 6.8 magnitude, damage and injuries were relatively minor, which experts attributed to the quake's depth. About 200 people were reported injured in Seattle and Olympia, at least three of them in serious condition, officials said.

The earthquake temporarily shut down the Seattle airport, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people, cracked the dome atop the Capitol in Olympia and briefly trapped about 30 people atop a swaying Space Needle, 605 feet above the city.


Paulette DeRooy, who scrambled onto a fire escape in a Seattle office building, said, "Everyone was panicked."

The quake hit at 10:54 a.m. PST (12:54 p.m. CST) and was centered 35 miles southwest of Seattle, according to the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. It was the strongest to hit Washington state in 52 years.

Experts said its depth - in a fault about 33 miles underground - spared the Northwest catastrophic damage. Officials said millions of dollars spent to remodel buildings and highways to protect against earthquakes had paid off: Damage could run into the billions, but that was considered light in a highly developed area with more than 3 million residents.

In contrast, the magnitude-6.7 Northridge quake in Los Angeles in 1994 struck 11 miles underground. It caused an estimated $40 billion in damage and killed 72 people.

The quake was felt as far away as British Columbia and southern Oregon, 300 miles away. Buildings in downtown Portland, 140 miles from the epicenter, swayed for nearly a half-minute, and crowds gathered on street corners to talk about the quake.




Forty-nine people were treated at two hospitals in Olympia. With the exception of a few broken bones, all the injuries there were minor.



Gov. Gary Locke, who said books and pictures were knocked off the walls at the governor's mansion, declared a state of emergency, freeing state resources and clearing the way for federal aid. After surveying the quake damage by helicopter, he estimated it at more than $1 billion in western Washington alone.


There was damage to a number of other buildings, mostly minor cracks and broken glass. Bricks fell from the top of Starbucks headquarters onto cars parked below and piled up on sidewalks in the popular Pioneer Square neighborhood, the scene of Mardi Gras celebrations the night before.


"I think the city has been very mindful of earthquake risks," Schell said. "We have no catastrophic damage."

Schools throughout the region halted classes, but many served as shelters until children could be reunited with parents. Many businesses sent workers home and Boeing, the region's major private employer, closed its Seattle-area factories until Thursday.

The Space Needle - a landmark dating from the 1962 World's Fair that was built to sway during an earthquake or strong winds - was closed for 21/2 hours. None of those stranded at the observation deck and restaurant on top was injured.

"You couldn't walk," Daryl Stevens said, describing when the quake hit. "It was like a rolling ship in the ocean."

U.S. Highway 101 buckled in places northwest of Olympia, and another road nearby was closed by a mudslide. Engineering crews were checking the Seattle area's many bridges for damage and some were closed as a precaution.

Amtrak suspended train service between Portland and Seattle until tracks could be inspected, a spokesman said. Two trains with more than 220 people aboard were halted between Seattle and Tacoma and buses were sent to pick up stranded passengers.

The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was closed for more than three hours, stranding thousands of people. The Federal Aviation Administration at one point halted all flights in and out of the Northwest's biggest city and crews were building a temporary control tower because the main building was damaged too severely to use.



"The chandelier started going and the floor started shaking," state Sen. Bob Morton said. "Someone yelled get under the table and so we did."

Cracked plaster, gilt and paintings fell from the walls. There was fear the dome would collapse and people linked hands as they walked down the marble stairs of the building.



"The building swayed and I yelled, 'Earthquake!' and jumped under a doorway," said Jon Coney of Gov. John Kitzhaber's office.

Earthquake magnitudes are calculated according to ground motion recorded on seismographs. An increase in one full number - from 6.5 to 7.5, for example - means the quake's magnitude is 10 times as great.



On the Net:

U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov

Earthquake Information Center: http://neic.usgs.gov

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