Olympian file photo
Washington Federal Savings in downtown Olympia sustained about $1.5 million in damage from the Nisqually Earthquake one year ago today.

The day the earth shook

Despite all the damage, things could have been much worse

JOHN DODGE THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- One year ago today, South Sound residents received a rude reminder that we live, work and play in earthquake country.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake 30 miles beneath the Nisqually Delta jolted the region, inflicting more than $500 million in damage, injuring 400 and scaring the living daylights out of tens of thousands more.

"It made believers out of a lot of nonbelievers," said Thurston County emergency management coordinator Betty Schultz.

A year later, a quick trip around Olympia -- the hardest-hit city --reveals many vestiges of the quake.

Work to replace the quake-damaged Fourth Avenue bridge is well under way at the foot of Budd Inlet. Nearby, Deschutes Parkway, ripped apart by the earthquake, will be rebuilt no sooner than the end of this year.

Scaffolding adorns the southeast side of the Capitol dome, a reminder of the $15 million in earthquake repairs awaiting the Capitol Campus.

In downtown Olympia, the large Skookum Bay Outfitters storefront on Capitol Way is unfit for occupancy due to earthquake damage.

Most benign type

If it's any consolation to the 6,235 families and businesses in South Sound that applied for federal disaster aid, the earthquake could have been worse -- a lot worse.

"A little more violent and longer duration shaking would have caused major damage," said Bill Steele, seismology lab coordinator at the University of Washington.

Of the three types of earthquakes experienced in the Northwest, the Nisqually Earthquake was the most common and most benign.

The same magnitude earthquake near the earth's surface -- called a shallow or crustal earthquake -- would shake longer, harder and with more force, inflicting more damage.

Then there's the granddaddy of all Northwest earthquakes, a subduction zone quake that occurs every few hundred years.

This geologic behemoth features the oceanic and continental plates locking up, then breaking loose with the force of an 8 magnitude or greater earthquake. The last one happened about 400 years ago. The timing of the next big earthquake is anybody's guess.

John Dodge covers the environment and energy for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5444 or by e-mail at jdodge@ olympia.gannett.com.

SPECIAL SECTION:

Earthquake:
Remembering and Rebuilding

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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