Earthquake Stories
2001 Olympia, Washington 6.8 Quake
Dan Goldstein's Story from Port Townsend
I was at home at 10:55 AM on February 28, 2001 in Port Townsend, Washington, about 50 miles northwest of Seattle. I was in the Dining Room with my daughter, who was doing her homeschool math lesson. The radio was tuned to NPR in the background. As I walked into the room, she thought I was really stomping, making the whole house shake. She said "What's happening?" The radio announcers were reporting that they were feeling an earthquake and then we felt it getting stronger. There was a shaking movement back and forth. I noticed a wind chime swaying. My wife ran in from outside where she had been unloading the car. "Its an earthquake!" My daughter jumped up, "what do we do?" "Nothing" I said, since I could tell that there wasn't any danger, we just stood in the hallway and waited. It felt like it went on for a long time, getting stonger and then dying away. I figured it lasted 30 seconds. My wife was outside unloading the car and she heard a noise like the wind but there wasn't any wind. It was a low rumbling. This was the sound of the earthquake waves coming. She felt her legs start to buckle but thought that it was her bad ankle. Then she came in and put down the card table she was taking in. She wondered why the table was moving then she saw the windows shaking so hard she thought they might break and the hanging light fixtures swaying like mad. My son thought that his sister was rattling his door to bother him. He opened the door but she wasn't there. He closed the door and it continued to rattle. Then he realized what was going on. He was surprised that the CD he was listening to didn't skip with the shaking. He then ran downstairs.
After the shaking stopped, we listened to the radio to see what was happening. I was especially interested in all the details because of my Earthquake Museum web site. The Seattle NPR station, KUOW, had people calling in to give their accounts of the quake all day long. I had figured that the quake was nearer to Seattle since the radio was reporting it a few seconds ahead of what we felt. They were also reporting a larger quake than we felt.
Downtown Port Townsend is an historic district consisting of many stone or brick buildings dating from the 19th century. It is also largely built on dirt dumped into the bay. This combination puts the town in danger of damage from earthquakes, since the landfill can shake violently and the old buildings are less resistant to damage than modern ones. There are plans to strengthen the old City Hall and Courthouse buildings in particular, but those projects have not yet begun. This quake was not severe enough to cause a lot of damage, however. One four story building, the Mount Baker Block, had several cracks running up the facade on the main street. The middle school gym was closed due to possible structual damage. Other than that, there was no apparent damage. Some buildings were evacuated to evaluate their condition. During the afternoon teams of inspectors worked their way down the street looking for damage.
My wife went into a lumber store right after the quake and they told her that stacks of lumber were swaying back and forth. Two of the employees were complaining that everybody else had gotten calls asking if they were OK but their husbands hadn't called. Nothing fell but they were afraid that it would. She was very happy that she hadn't gotten out of the house as early as she had intended. I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. The dentist's off ice is on top of the bluff overlooking Port Townsend Bay. They told me that everybody ran out of the building in case it went over the edge. (It didn't), Our shop downtown was closed today (we close Wednesday and Thursday in the winter) but she went down there to do some work and check on it. Everything was OK. My son was chatting on the internet with his friend in Pacifica, California, just south of San Francisco, later in the day, who said that she felt it there, about 900 miles away. We also received several e-mails from friends who had been unable to get through to us because the long distance phone lines were all tied up. I sent them copies of this page to reassure them. Locally we didn't have trouble with phones except for one call on a cell phone that was having a lot of trouble.
Interestingly enough, the weekly newspaper here ran a full page article last week about Earthquake Preparedness, complete with a first hand account of the 1989 San Francisco quake and pictures of the 1906 San Francisco quake.
On the radio we heard that there were cracks in the ground several inches wide in a few places. We heard that the ferry in Seattle was just docking when the quake hit and they backed off to see if it was safe. Two hours later the boat was still sitting there with stranded travellers. Foot passengers have to board on the car deck rather than the usual foot bridge. We heard about people who were in an elevator in Seattle. It shook so violently they thought it would fall and when it stopped at a floor they all got off and huddled in doorways. They said that they were afraid the highrise would collapse and ran down the stairs to get out. The radio reported that Bill Gates was addressing a meeting in a Seattle hotel. He was hustled off when the quake started. People were knocked down as people rushed outside. Ceiling tiles fell on the crowd as people watched the huge chandieliers swinging above them. A facade of a building across the street fell on some parked cars. Somebody reported that right after the quake earthworms crawled out of the ground. Somebody else reported loud squawking of birds right before the quake.
It was interesting to hear the estimates of the magnitude as they first came over the radio. The University of Washington equipment originally said 4.7 but the national earthquake center said 6.2 then 7.0 before settling on 6.8. We heard an explanation that the instruments near the epicenter get knocked off scale because they are too close and further away instruments get a more accurate reading.
After the shaking stopped, we listened to the radio to see what was happening. I was especially interested in all the details because of my Earthquake Museum web site. The Seattle NPR station, KUOW, had people calling in to give their accounts of the quake all day long. I had figured that the quake was nearer to Seattle since the radio was reporting it a few seconds ahead of what we felt. They were also reporting a larger quake than we felt.
Downtown Port Townsend is an historic district consisting of many stone or brick buildings dating from the 19th century. It is also largely built on dirt dumped into the bay. This combination puts the town in danger of damage from earthquakes, since the landfill can shake violently and the old buildings are less resistant to damage than modern ones. There are plans to strengthen the old City Hall and Courthouse buildings in particular, but those projects have not yet begun. This quake was not severe enough to cause a lot of damage, however. One four story building, the Mount Baker Block, had several cracks running up the facade on the main street. The middle school gym was closed due to possible structual damage. Other than that, there was no apparent damage. Some buildings were evacuated to evaluate their condition. During the afternoon teams of inspectors worked their way down the street looking for damage.
My wife went into a lumber store right after the quake and they told her that stacks of lumber were swaying back and forth. Two of the employees were complaining that everybody else had gotten calls asking if they were OK but their husbands hadn't called. Nothing fell but they were afraid that it would. She was very happy that she hadn't gotten out of the house as early as she had intended. I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. The dentist's off ice is on top of the bluff overlooking Port Townsend Bay. They told me that everybody ran out of the building in case it went over the edge. (It didn't), Our shop downtown was closed today (we close Wednesday and Thursday in the winter) but she went down there to do some work and check on it. Everything was OK. My son was chatting on the internet with his friend in Pacifica, California, just south of San Francisco, later in the day, who said that she felt it there, about 900 miles away. We also received several e-mails from friends who had been unable to get through to us because the long distance phone lines were all tied up. I sent them copies of this page to reassure them. Locally we didn't have trouble with phones except for one call on a cell phone that was having a lot of trouble.
Interestingly enough, the weekly newspaper here ran a full page article last week about Earthquake Preparedness, complete with a first hand account of the 1989 San Francisco quake and pictures of the 1906 San Francisco quake.
On the radio we heard that there were cracks in the ground several inches wide in a few places. We heard that the ferry in Seattle was just docking when the quake hit and they backed off to see if it was safe. Two hours later the boat was still sitting there with stranded travellers. Foot passengers have to board on the car deck rather than the usual foot bridge. We heard about people who were in an elevator in Seattle. It shook so violently they thought it would fall and when it stopped at a floor they all got off and huddled in doorways. They said that they were afraid the highrise would collapse and ran down the stairs to get out. The radio reported that Bill Gates was addressing a meeting in a Seattle hotel. He was hustled off when the quake started. People were knocked down as people rushed outside. Ceiling tiles fell on the crowd as people watched the huge chandieliers swinging above them. A facade of a building across the street fell on some parked cars. Somebody reported that right after the quake earthworms crawled out of the ground. Somebody else reported loud squawking of birds right before the quake.
It was interesting to hear the estimates of the magnitude as they first came over the radio. The University of Washington equipment originally said 4.7 but the national earthquake center said 6.2 then 7.0 before settling on 6.8. We heard an explanation that the instruments near the epicenter get knocked off scale because they are too close and further away instruments get a more accurate reading.