Olympia earthquake rocked Pacific Northwest

Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) -- A powerful earthquake rocked the Northwest on Wednesday, shattering windows, crushing cars in showers of bricks and sending frightened people running into the streets of Seattle and Portland, Ore. About 200 people were injured and damage was estimated at more than $1 billion.

King County emergency services officials linked one heart attack death to the quake.

The strongest quake to hit Washington state in 52 years closed the Seattle airport for several hours and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people. It also cracked the dome atop the state Capitol in Olympia and briefly trapped about 30 people atop a swaying Space Needle in Seattle.

``It was really scary. I screamed,'' said Liz Price, who watched dishes smash, mortar crumble and books fly from the shelves of her fourth-floor Seattle apartment.

``It was a very long, very rough quake,'' said Betty Emanual, who was trapped in her law firm's 39th-floor office in downtown Seattle.

Still, residents in this earthquake-prone region counted their blessings that the magnitude 6.8 tremor caused relatively little damage, mostly because it occurred 30 miles below the Earth's surface.

Given its strength, such a deep quake ``is the best kind of earthquake to have,'' said Bill Steele, spokesman for the University of Washington seismology laboratory.

The quake hit at 10:54 a.m. and was centered 35 miles southwest of Seattle, according to the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

In recent years, millions of dollars have been spent in the Puget Sound region, home to more than 3 million residents, to remodel schools, buildings and highways to protect against earthquakes.

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

``I think the city has been very mindful of earthquake risks,'' Seattle Mayor Paul Schell said. ``We have no catastrophic damage.''

Washington Gov. Gary Locke declared a state of emergency, a first step in mobilizing state services and seeking federal aid. He estimated damages at more than $1 billion after surveying the region by helicopter.

Schell and the executives of King and Pierce counties declared states of emergency. Joe Albaugh, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was flying in with members of Washington's congressional delegation to view the damage.

The King County Emergency Operations Center said a woman in her 60s, from the Seattle suburb of Burien, died of a heart attack at about the time of the quake. The King County medical examiner's office declined to attribute her death to the earthquake.

More than 150 people were treated at King County hospitals, most for minor injuries, county Emergency Operations Center spokesman Al Dams said. Of those, 26 were treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle,with six people admitted, three in serious condition.

Another 49 people were treated at two hospitals in Olympia.

Screams erupted at a Seattle hotel where Microsoft founder Bill Gates was addressing an education and technology conference. He was whisked away as his audience bolted for the exits. Some people were knocked down by others trying to get out. Overhead lights fell to the floor.

The quake forced operation of the U.S. Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service out of its Seattle building onto a Coast Guard cutter, but service was not disrupted and shipping traffic was not widely affected, Coast Guard Petty Officer William Brandon said.

There was damage to a number of buildings, including a six-story Seattle apartment building that lost a corner of its ceiling, exposing one unit to the sky and forcing evacuation of the other 76 units. Five windows burst at The Seattle Times' classified advertising building, and bricks fell from the top of Starbucks headquarters onto cars parked below.

Traffic kept flowing on Interstate 5 through Seattle, but the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a double-deck roadway built on filled land along Seattle's waterfront, was closed as a precaution.

Bricks also piled up on sidewalks of the Pioneer Square neighborhood, the scene of Mardi Gras celebrations the night before that turned ugly, resulting in dozens of injuries.

``Enough, right?'' Schell said of seeing the melee and quake in a stretch of less than 12 hours.

He said city crews were examining buildings for safety, and it appeared the city's Opera House at the Seattle Center had been damaged.

Schools throughout the region halted classes, but many served as shelters for children until they could be reunited with parents. Many businesses sent their workers home.

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 briefly. None of those stranded at the observation deck and restaurant on top were injured.

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.

Boeing Field in south Seattle also was closed for much of the day by quake damage.

Two Amtrak passenger trains with more than 220 people aboard were halted between Seattle and Tacoma while the tracks were inspected.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was closed from the time of the quake until about 2:30 p.m., when limited operations resumed. Crews were constructing a temporary aircraft control tower, FAA spokesman Alan Kenitzer said. He said six of eight structural supports on the main tower were damaged, and all but one of its windows were shattered.

Puget Sound Energy said 200,000 customers in Western Washington lost service, but power had been restored to most customers by mid-evening Wednesday.

In Olympia, about 10 miles from the epicenter, legislators, state workers and visiting schoolchildren streamed out of the damaged Capitol.

``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.

``If that rascal had tumbled down, it would have been all over,'' Morton said.

More than a dozen buildings were damaged and evacuated in Olympia pending structural evaluations, city officials said.

The panic was similar in Salem, Ore., where the House and the Senate were in session.

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

In downtown Portland, about 140 miles from the epicenter, the Multnomah County Courthouse was evacuated and employees were gathered across the street while officials inspected for damage.

``Everything was shaking,'' said Michelle Noonan of suburban Lake Oswego. ``It knocked over a wood pile outside the house. Books fell off the shelf.''

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.

A quake with a magnitude of 6 can cause severe damage, while one with a magnitude of 7 can cause widespread, heavy damage.

A 5.9 quake struck near Washington's Pacific coast in 1999. A 6.5 earthquake hit in 1965, injuring at least 31 people. In 1949, a 7.1 quake near Olympia killed eight people.

The quake that struck Los Angeles in January 1994 caused an estimated $40 billion in damage and killed 72 people. It was a magnitude-6.7.

On the Net:

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

U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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