SEATTLE — A powerful 6.8 earthquake rumbled deep beneath Puget Sound on Wednesday--sending Seattle's high-rise office towers into a terrifying sway, unleashing landslides, damaging roads and crumbling building facades. Early damage estimates were in the billions of dollars.
More than 250 people were injured but, defying expectations, only one person died in the strongest temblor to hit the Pacific Northwest in 52 years. That, experts said, was due to the fact that the temblor's epicenter was buried in solid rock 30 miles underground. Tremors from the quake, which was centered 35 miles southwest of Seattle near the state capital of Olympia, were felt as far away as Salt Lake City and British Columbia.
The violent pitching and rolling began at 10:54 a.m. and lasted nearly 45 seconds--long enough to send old brick building facades crashing down onto cars, trigger a landslide that blocked a major river in Seattle's eastern suburbs, open fissures in roads and puncture gas and water lines.
"It almost felt like an intense boat ride, with motion sickness. I can tell you, I was afraid," said Meredith Russell, a receptionist on the 50th floor of the downtown Bank of America building. "There were window washers creeping up to the top of the building, and they looked scared. It was an intense feeling."
At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, air traffic controllers ordered an inbound passenger jet to "pull up" before touchdown as windows in the control tower shattered. At least 1,000 passengers were stranded at the airport as inbound flights throughout the day were diverted to Portland, Ore. A makeshift control tower was set up in a trailer, and limited operations resumed within a few hours.
Nearby Boeing Field, the base of much of the region's general aviation and corporate air traffic, was closed indefinitely after the runway crumbled in several places and the control tower lost power, along with at least 200,000 homes from Olympia to Seattle. Power has been largely restored.
Ferry traffic and Amtrak passenger service were halted for several hours and at least 30 people weretemporarily stranded atop Seattle's landmark Space Needle as it shuddered violently. Members of the Seattle City Council--meeting to discuss, in part, a Mardi Gras riot Tuesday night that left 70 people injured--had to dive for cover under the council table.
