Earthquake Rocks Seattle
Posted by GeneBreshears on Wed 28 Feb 2001 - 15:20
An earthquake estimated between 6.2 and 7.0 centered approximately 30 miles southwest of Seattle shook the pacific northwest at 10:55am. Four serious injuries had been reported by about 1 pm local time. A large number of buildings in the state capital of Olympia were damaged. Tacoma and Seattle experienced less damage.
No news yet on whether ConiFur Northwest HQ suffered any damage. Also no news from MU Press which is headquartered in Seattle.
I can report that Tai-Pan central seems undamaged. My significant other reports that a number of plushies and one plant were knocked off the shelves, but otherwise things are all right.
Local daily newspaper account.
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GeneBreshears — read stories — contact (login required)a typographer from Seattle, WA, interested in writing, dabbling, publishing, and analyzing
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Several buildings were damaged, and my flight was cancelled due to Sea-Tac closing for damage examinations and repairs. Evidentally this quake originated from one of two faults in the state. Although this was about a 6.8 on the scale, damage was contained because the fault that caused it is about 30 miles beneath the surface. I've had several people assure me that if it had been the other fault, which is very close to the surface, I would have been buried under rubble.
Not a very reassuring thought.
I've been warned to expect aftershocks. I'll let you know what we feel.
-Feren
-Feren
"We use them for divine retribution."
There are actually at least four faults the run under the great puget sound area, not just two in the whole state. :)
--Gene
Damage minimal. Seattle's better built for disasters than California. By 1PM, the news in Portland was saying that Seattle had gone on with its day.
My company's central office in Redwood City jumped out of its skin and called every employee individually at the Beaverton office to make sure everything was OK. In Beaverton, the earthquake registered as 1.7. The effects at my building was one guy with an inner ear problem fell out of his chair and someone else asked if the UPS truck backed into the building again.
ConiFur suffered no damage other than a ledger book which fell to the floor from a shelf. There were no service disruptions to our web site or other facilities.
It shook, it quaked, it rocked the house, but we came through just fine.
A wonderful 3D sculpture by Michele Gault did not survive unscathed though- the spotted feline fem suffered two broken legs and and two tail fractures. :/ She will be taken to Michele Gault for therapy and repair.
To update: MU Press is also A-Ok. Edd Vick, owner of MU Press, reports that the family, house, and cats all survived just fine.
Of the 13 buildings that have been red-tagged in downtown Seattle as unsafe to occupy because of the quake, one is the historic Interurban Building. The Interurban Building was built around 1917 and was the site of my coolest summer job in college, a tiny start-up software company that, eventually offered me a real job and where I worked right up until Cisco bought them out (the deal just closed two weeks ago). It was sort of sad seeing the poor old building surrounded by yello tape and with big red stickers on the doors.
Olympia suffered worse damage, with several more buildings red-tagged than Seattle's.
Officials at Woodland Park Zoo report that the elephant who very recently gave birth seemed to detect the earthquake about a half minute before the humans noticed. This is not surprising since we know that elephants can hear and communicate in the sub-sonic level.
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