Students remembered quake safety tips

JOHN GRABER, THE OLYMPIAN

LACEY -- Years of training Western Washington children what to do in an earthquake paid off Wednesday.

Some of the students at North Thurston High School -- who returned to classes Friday -- admitted they were scared, while others seemed to have taken the quake in stride.

It helped that many knew exactly what to do when things started shaking.

"It's been said that in most places the kids were better prepared than the adults, and I think that's probably true," said Karen Eitreim, North Thurston High principal. "They've been taught since they were little ... to drop and cover."

The school sustained some minor damage, but the overall structure was unscathed, Eitreim said. The gym has been closed until some ceiling panels can be replaced and some books fell off shelves, but that was about the extent of the damage, Eitreim said.

All of the teachers were equipped with emergency backpacks with information on what to do in case of a disaster. The kits come with ribbons, which the teachers are supposed to put on their classroom door handles afterward.

A green ribbon means the room is safe to enter. A yellow ribbon means assistance is needed and a red ribbon means there is something dangerous in the room. Unfortunately, most of the teachers didn't use their ribbons, Eitreim said.

"They do real good in drills, like fire drills, but I think this time they were a little shaken," Eitreim said.

Student body President Brandon Bailey, 18, was working on a computer in a second-story classroom when the quake hit.

"Being upstairs, I felt it pretty good," Bailey said.

He ducked under his teacher's desk while she went out in the hall to pull kids into a safe place.

After the quake, Bailey went to the school's baseball fields, the school's designated rendezvous point, to wait for further instructions and help parents who had come to pick up their children.

"Actually, I was proud," said Bailey, a senior. "No matter what anybody says about it, it's pretty hard not to be scared. But I didn't panic."

Eddie Smith, 17, a junior, was in the school's weight room when the quake hit. Pieces of that room's ceiling tiles were falling down, so he went to the baseball fields.

"I was out of there!" Smith said.

Laura Gylys, 15, was in the parking lot of a Starbucks for lunch when she heard a loud clanging and felt the ground starting to shake. She just held on to her two friends until it was over.

"It just kept getting worse," said Gylys, a sophomore. "Seconds passed and it wasn't over. I've never been through anything so terrifying because you are so helpless."

Many in the school didn't even think it was an earthquake at first.

Ophelia Franklin, 16, was in biology class, and thought somebody was just shaking her table as a practical joke. When the class figured out what was happening, they all climbed under their tables.

Bailey thought the initial rumbling was from painters in the hall.

Franklin said she was a little shocked but wasn't scared. It was her third earthquake, though the first two were much smaller.

"It helped me to stay calm because I knew what to do," Franklin said.

John Graber covers Lacey, Tumwater and military issues for The Olympian. He can be reached at 754-5465.

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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