At 11:51 AM 2/28/01 -0800, Kakki wrote:
>I just got in to see that there has been a terrible earthquake in the
>Seattle. A news anchor said 7.2 but another report says 6.2.
It's now been graded 6.8. The good news is that it was centered about 30
miles below the earth's surface. Experts are saying that if it had started
closer to the surface, the damage would have been much worse.
Several roads have been damaged and many bridges are closed pending
inspection. One report has 30 people stuck at the top of the Space Needle;
it seems they are not allowed to use the elevator until it has been checked
out. A co-worker said he'd call for a helicopter to lift him the hell out
of there. I said, "if you want ME I'll be in the bar where I'll demand they
"comp" me and keep 'em coming!" :-)
So far there have been about 30 injuries reported, about half a dozen
deemed "serious." No deaths reported yet. Most schools have been evacuated
and many businesses sent employees home early. Governor Gary Locke said
preliminary damage estimates run into the billions of dollars. Many
buildings in the Seattle area sustained damage running from crumbled walls
to collapsed roofs. There have been several landslides and mudslides in the
area surrounding Olympia, about 50 miles south of Seattle.
>From my location on the Olympic Peninsula, about 70 miles west/northwest of
Seattle, it was much less hairy. This was a "shaker" as opposed to a
"roller." I felt everything moving and looked outside to see a large
(parked) semi-truck rocking back and forth with what I'd call "moderate
violence." We have a few scattered power outages and the phone lines are
jammed but it's pretty much back to normal already.
For years we have been warned that the "big one" could hit anytime...I just
hope that this was *it* and anything from here on out will be smaller.
Scott
