Big Quake Jolts Northwest; Damage Estimated in Billions

At least 215 people were injured, at least 8 seriously, and officials said property damage would easily run into the billions of dollars. And there was a report of a fatal heart attack related to the quake, which struck at 10:54 a.m. Pacific time and sent a wave of fright through schools and offices.

Seismologists measured the quake at a magnitude of 6.8; the 6.7-magnitude earthquake that struck the Los Angeles area in 1994 killed 72 people, injured 9,000 and caused $25 billion in damage. In part because today's quake was along a deep fault, 30 miles or so underground and near where similar quakes hit in 1949 and 1965, it did not appear to have set off similarly catastrophic destruction. Its epicenter was between Olympia and Tacoma on the edge of Puget Sound.

But its effects were nonetheless substantial, both physically and psychologically.

"Within seconds, the whole building was swaying back and forth and everyone was yelling, `Get under your desks!' " said Novella Carpenter, 28, an editor at Sasquatch Books on the second floor of a brick office building downtown. "From under my desk, I watched a hail of concrete, rock, chips, brick and plaster falling from the upper floors. Afterward we all went out into the street and moved to an open space. We were afraid of aftershocks. Outside was a mob scene. Bricks were everywhere."

At the Capitol in Olympia, Maureen Walsh, a Republican legislative assistant, watched a large crack ripple and then spread across her boss's wall. "I think what frightened me the most is to realize that this massive building we are in is all marble and stone, and it was literally just jumping up and down," Ms. Walsh said.

And Heidi Griebe, an art gallery clerk who was in a 42-foot wooden fishing boat near Seattle's Shilshole Bay when the quake hit, said she felt as though the boat were being sucked down into the icy waters. "I've sometimes wondered what an earthquake must feel like if you're out on a boat," Ms. Griebe said after making it to dry land, uninjured. "Well now I know what it feels like. And I don't ever want to feel that again."

The earthquake hit on the sort of sunny, golden day that has been an unseasonal feature of the Northwest's winter, and it offered a powerful glimpse into nature's destructive potential. Across the region, following instructions from their teachers and mimicking drills, schoolchildren dived under their desks, as adults did in their offices.

Afterward, telephone lines were jammed for hours as people sought to get news to and from loved ones.

The earthquake struck just a few minutes before Mayor Paul Schell of Seattle was to hold a news conference about how Mardi Gras festivities here on Tuesday night turned violent, leading the police to use rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowds. At least 70 people were injured. And Mayor Schell, who also presided over the similar police response to demonstrations against the World Trade Organization here in December 1999, found himself surveying damage scenes twice today.

"Enough, right?" he told reporters.

A few blocks away, Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, had just plugged a cable into his computer to begin a demonstration of his company's new Windows XP software at the Westin Seattle hotel. Then the quake struck, and the stage shook, chandeliers rattled, and some ceiling tiles fell, several people said. A few people in the audience screamed or rushed for the exits.

Mr. Gates and others left the stage while inspectors checked the building, but the demonstration resumed several minutes later.

"O.K., so where was I?" Mr. Gates then asked, prompting a member of the audience to shout back, "You said you had an earth-shattering new announcement to make."

The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport sustained structural damage in three of the four pillars that support the control tower, and controllers evacuated it, said Jerry Snyder, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. But within three hours, controllers had set up in a makeshift tower at an airplane hangar. The controllers, using handheld radios, were handling about 20 arrivals and 20 departures an hour, Mr. Snyder said. The typical rate at that time of day is 60 of each. One of the runways, which handles virtually all commercial traffic for the Seattle area, showed cracks and was shut for inspection.

The airport remained closed this evening to most incoming flights, many of which had been diverted to Portland and Spokane, where the quake was felt but damage was not as severe.

Above the food court at the airport, pieces of glass dangled precariously from a ceiling sculpture; a few had fallen to the floor and shattered. Maintenance workers quickly cordoned it off with yellow caution tape, then put garbage cans underneath to catch the water that started pouring through about 10 minutes later.

Trains between the terminals were halted for an hour and a half, and people started to feel trapped and tensions flared. Travelers tried to get information from anyone with a uniform or a walkie-talkie. A group of 20 travelers peppered a firefighter with questions about when they could leave. "No one's going anywhere for now," he said. "Just find a chair, sit down and relax."

Many of the injured were taken to taken to Harbor View Medical Center. Tina Mankowski, director of community relations, said there were 29 people in the emergency room with earthquake-related injuries. Five were listed as serious, with three of those from crushing injuries, another from a vehicle accident and one with burns. A check of other hospitals found similar injuries.

Much of the damage in Seattle was in the historic Pioneer Square district, which has many older brick buildings, and in the industrial blocks south of downtown known as SoDo. Downtown skyscrapers, built more recently and conforming with earthquake-resistance standards, swayed but sustained relatively minor damage.

At Starbucks Center, the headquarters of the coffee company, the lip of the brick roof to the right of the landmark clock tower and emblem crumpled and fell off, leaving a pile of rubble on the street..

In Pioneer Square, the Fenix Underground nightclub was among the hardest hit. Rick Wyatt, a co-owner, said his partner, Mike Lagervall, was in the basement when the quake started. Mr. Lagervall managed to get up the stairs and out the front door before the brick facade came tumbling down from three floors above. A huge hole was torn from the roof to the top row of windows. At street level, the club's green awnings were shredded from falling bricks and covered with gray dust; two parked cars were also hit heavily by debris, and a pile of 110-year-old bricks blocked the front entrance.

"We had just survived Fat Tuesday without a scratch," Mr. Wyatt said. "You want to know the really sad part? If the rioters had destroyed the building last night, we would have been insured. But an earthquake, we're not insured for that."

All ferry service was suspended immediately after the earthquake. Service was restored gradually hour by hour, as reports came in that the docks and ferries were safe. By 4 p.m., all the ferries were running. The last dock to reopen was the Colman dock in Seattle, the largest ferry dock in the system, which reopened around 4. The dock had a 50- foot gash in its holding area.

"I'm from California, and this earthquake was amazing for me," Ms. Harris said. "It went on for so much longer than most earthquakes. So long that many of us could stop, figure out what's going on, then think about what to do. Most of the time, it just comes, then goes. But this one lasted awhile."

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