Nisqually Earthquake, 2001
Starbucks headquarters in Seattle took a major loss. They were on the bottom floor of the old Sears building and had recently done some upgrading, or things could have been a lot worse. Semis rolled over on Highway 18 from Federal Way to Interstate-90 and closed that road for a while. Highway 101 near Shelton had a 60-foot gash, but was repaired enough by late afternoon for temporary use. A portion of Interstate 5 by Chehalis was closed temporarily while a railroad overpass was checked for safety.
The Capitol Building in Olympia has a cracked column in the front and the sandstone and brick dome slipped an inch, but it’s built for that to happen. There were plaster chips and things strewn about, but nothing that serious.
A few homes on Salmon Beach in Tacoma were dislodged and pushed down the hill towards Puget Sound. Community roads and hills slid. Wine bottles were thrown around in grocery stores, cosmetics in salons. Well water was a little murky in spots, but most wells were clear by today. People within viewing distance of Mt. Rainier nervously watched, hoping the quake wasn’t going to cause an eruption. Nerves were temporarily frazzled. But overall, most of us fared pretty well.
My daughter was in downtown Seattle at work in the old Federal Building, a brick building. It fared okay – she saw brick falling across the way, though new computers stacked for installation fell down. My granddaughter got under the desk as instructed by her teacher. Kids have been trained here for such an emergency.
Those of us at Ground Zero were just glad to be alive. It goes with the territory and we’ll probably still be here through the next one.
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