Steve Bloom/The Olympian
South Puget Sound Community College student Jeff Ennett checks out the detached walkway on Deschutes Parkway after Wednesday's earthquake.

Quake's force rips through downtown

SCOTT WYLAND AND LIONA TANNESEN, THE OLYMPIAN

"I just got here from Texas.

We get hurricanes and tornadoes, but our ground stays put."

-- Richard Gomez, teacher

OLYMPIA -- Casey McKee was working at a downtown fabric shop when she noticed the walls starting to jiggle.

When the jiggling turned into rumbling, she wondered what sort of work the people upstairs were doing.

But when the whole building felt like a bowl of Jell-O shaking, she realized it was an earthquake and darted into a doorway.

"You learn that when you're a little kid," said McKee, an employee at Fifth Avenue Fabric & Clothing. "It felt like the end of the world. It felt very frightening."

An earthquake that emanated from deep beneath the Nisqually Delta at 10:55 a.m. Wednesday, and was felt for hundreds of miles, rumbled through downtown Olympia with dramatic force.

Sections of buildings crumbled and plate-glass windows shattered, leaving stone and glass debris strewn on the sidewalk and much of the public dazed.

Miraculously, no deaths or serious injuries were reported as a result of the quake, said Dennis Jones, Olympia Fire Department spokesman. "Nothing very significant so far. We've been very, very lucky."

However, at least 27 buildings sustained serious damage, including Washington Federal Savings, Skookum Bay Outfitters, Tee's Me and Fifth Avenue Fabric.

McKee said that when the trembling subsided, she stepped out and noticed that sections of Washington Federal's roof and cornice had crumbled, as if swiped by a wrecking ball.

After the quake, many business owners and workers went around making sure everyone was all right, McKee said, adding that the community spirit impressed her.

Jason Traeger, McKee's boyfriend, was in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, which he said was more violent than the one that hit Olympia. "But when you're in it, it feels the same," he said.

Throughout the day, the core downtown area was a scene of subdued chaos.

Stretches of Capitol and Legion ways, Fourth and Fifth avenues and Washington Street looked war-torn. Police blocked off stretches of sidewalk around damaged buildings, forcing pedestrians to walk along the edge of streets, next to traffic that crept forward in fits and starts.

People huddled at street corners and wandered past piles of rubble, expressing shock at how suddenly nature can strike and relief that they were alive to talk about it.

Some snapped pictures of the destruction.

Inspectors scrutinized downtown buildings for structural damage and labeled structures red for "keep out," yellow for somewhat dangerous -- residents may retrieve belongings but not stay -- or green for OK.

Elks Apartments residents and Capitale Grill and Espresso owners waited outside yellow tape for the OK to rescue belongings from their building.

Capitale co-owner Lela Cross said when the building started to shake, employees tried to get everybody out of the restaurant. "A lot of the wine bottles were falling off the racks," Cross said.

A burner flew off the counter. A hot water tank broke open on the fifth floor, and the water flooded down five floors, drenching an espresso machine and cooking equipment. "That's probably the worst damage," Cross said. "It was pretty scary."

At the Capitol Terrace Apartments, a man and a woman tried to ride a damaged elevator and became trapped.

They left sheepishly about an hour later with the help of an elevator repairman.

Meanwhile, Erna Zahler, 76, watched residents and managers rushing in and out of the lobby.

Zahler, who planned to move to a hotel, wore white slippers and kept her oxygen tank close by.

Zahler said she was just about to lie down for a nap when the bed started shaking and her dresser drawers flung open. "I just stood there until it stopped," Zahler said.

Zahler said she grew used to tornadoes in Minnesota. "I think the earthquakes are a lot worse," Zahler said. "You don't know what's coming down."

For much of the day, 10 residents of the Olympian Apartments were unaccounted for, and fire officials were worried that they might be trapped in a disabled elevator.

About 3:15 p.m., rescue teams confirmed that everyone had gotten out safely.

Fifty-two residents, mostly elderly, were moved to churches for temporary shelter. The apartment building, which houses The Urban Onion restaurant and assorted shops, will probably be condemned, Jones said.

Some state agencies evacuated employees, including the Superintendent of Public Instruction office.

Rod Duckworth, who teaches agricultural education, was on the third floor when the walls and floor began "moving in unison," causing filing cabinet drawers to shoot out and plants to fall off desks.

"It stopped so fast -- you really didn't have time to be scared," Duckworth said.

Richard Gomez, who teaches bilingual and migrant education, bought a round of coffee for his colleagues. Gomez said this was his first earthquake.

"I just got here from Texas," he said. "We get hurricanes and tornadoes, but our ground stays put."

At a downtown tavern, people gathered to discuss the earthquake over a round of beer.

"It's amazing how these buildings move," said Mike Barber, a fish biologist who works in the Department of Natural Resources building. "It was unlike anything I ever felt."

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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