Mike Salsbury/The Olympian
Soon after the Feb. 28 earthquake, state workers from the General Administration building gather outside their building to prepare a responses to the emergency.

South Sound recalls day the earth shook

THE OLYMPIAN

We asked Olympian readers to share their stories of where they were when the magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck South Sound at 10:54 a.m. on Feb. 28. Here are some of their stories:

-At the time of the earthquake I was sitting in the Senior Center with a cup of coffee. We heard a rumble. The whole building slipped north about the width of the tables we were sitting at. It felt like a smooth slippage until the center lifted slightly. Then it slipped back, raising the table. All of our cups, once filled with hot coffee, ended up empty. We grabbed a roll of paper towels and everyone cleaned up the spilled coffee. The overhead lights were out, so was the heater. A voice came over the intercom: "Everyone get under a table or stand in a doorway." Then again the voice directed us all to go out to the parking lot and get in an extra-long van so we could keep warm. We warmed right up. Then another voice told all of us to get on a big bus that was going to take us to a parking lot across Columbia Street. I later went home with my husband and son.

Doris Steadman, Lacey

-I was sound asleep when the shaking started. I thought my cat had jumped on my bed to wake me up, but then my roommate came into my room, hurrying me under the doorway.

Toni Burch, Olympia

-At 10:55 a.m. Wednesday Feb. 28, I was walking from the John L. O'Brien Building toward the sundial. I had just turned the corner to face the south side of the Legislative Building. The ground began to tremble; a sound roared from beneath. The movement accelerated. I grabbed the hedge for stability. It, too, was moving. Fearing I'd be toppled, I sat down on the sidewalk to watch the Legislative Building. I saw the dome deflect, first one side, then the other, like a pendulum. The whole building shuddered. The big windows rippled in their frames. I thought for sure they would shatter. It seemed like an eternity sitting there. Then people started pouring out of the buildings on all four sides -- the Legislative Building, the O'Brien Building, the Cherberg Building and the state library. A man helped me to my feet. I walked to an empty bench. A friend came by from House Transportation, and we started to talk about a report he had that I wanted. Eventually a state patrolman told everyone to leave the area. He said to go to the parking lot to the east of the library, or go home. I walked to my car on Water Street and headed home.

Meta Heller, Olympia

-I was at work up in south Seattle, near Boeing Field, when the quake hit. In fact, I was in the bathroom at the time. As my friends later said, "Can you imagine the obituary?" When it first hit, the floor moved as it did when trucks passed by ... but this increased in intensity, and then I heard someone yell, "Get out of the building!" I opened the door in time to see two co-workers fleeing the building. Seeing such agile motion and speed from those two caused me to start laughing ... and I kept laughing ... the laughing probably kept me calm. Then I walked out to the door jamb in my office and decided to stay there. By now the building was shaking quite severely, and for a brief moment I thought I may have made a mistake by not fleeing as the others had. But as the waves of tremors hit and passed I realized the information I was taught was true; a wood-framed structure does indeed bend with forces put upon it. The door jamb went this way and that -- and I felt as if I was surfing -- but it always came back to its original form. I even commented to myself, "They were telling the truth, wood-framed structures will stand up to a quake."

After a while, when I thought it was over, I ventured outside. The scene was surreal -- the flagpole was still flapping about 30 degrees each direction north and south, and all the automobiles were still rocking back and forth. I stood in the crowd with the same confused look and question they all had: was this the BIG ONE?

Another lesson learned: The cellular phones we all used to stay in contact did not work, nor did the regular phones, and the power went out. No way to check on my house in Lacey. But my brother in Bend, Ore., was able to call me directly on my office phone and I let him know I was all right.

God forbid the predicted shallow 7.0 quake hits. I'll probably have trouble getting home on I-5.

Stephen Strassman, Lacey

-I had just pulled into the parking lot to the north of St. Peter Hospital to go to the Cardiac Rehab-Fitness Center for my regular exercising. I was listening to the radio and hadn't yet turned off the car engine. I thought the engine was idling rough to begin with. Then the car began to jump around. I turned off the engine and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands because the car was jumping so hard and swaying from side to side. I thought my car was going to hit the parked car beside me. As I looked up I could see windows in the side of the building bulging in and out. I guess you could say that I sat out the earthquake, rather than rode it out. After a few stunned minutes, the car was still jiggling up and down and I don't know if it was still the earthquake or just residual bouncing of the car's shocks.

Lila F. Willis, Olympia

-If you want to know -- on the pot.

V. Holtarf, Shelton

-The Ira L. Cater VFW Post No. 318 Color Guard and a few auxiliary members were presenting a new American flag at the Puget Sound Healthcare Center on the west side.

The VFW post provides full-sized American flags as a community service project. Four post members and three auxiliary members were halfway through the ceremony (the old flag was down and the new flag almost raised) when the ground started rolling.

About 15 people all grabbed onto each other and went with the rolls. After everyone calmed down, the color guard proceeded with raising the flag. Ken Wojenski ended the ceremony with a special ad-lib: "That was the most earth-moving flag ceremony we have ever presented."

The entire staff and residents at Puget Sound Healthcare Center seemed totally prepared. No one was in a panic, even with the lights out. Post and Auxiliary members commend the center on their preparedness and calm during the earthquake.

Carole Jones, Olympia

For more personal accounts of the earthquake, see The Olympian's Web site, www.theolympian.com, and look under Forum.

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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