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Quake rocks Northwest
Deep-seated tremor centered 68 miles southwest of Seattle
Saturday, July 3, 1999
By PHUONG LE and TOM PAULSON
A powerful, uncommon kind of earthquake originating deep beneath the little town of Satsop rocked the Pacific Northwest yesterday, snapping utility lines, crumbling chimneys and rattling nerves.
Just as many people were about to start a long holiday weekend, a quake of magnitude 5.1 struck at 6:44 p.m. with an epicenter located about 68 miles southwest of Seattle.
"This is essentially the biggest earthquake in this region since 1965," said Steve Malone, a University of Washington seismologist in Seattle.
The quake occurred at a depth of 25 miles beneath the surface and was unrelated to a shallower quake that hit Maury Island on Thursday night and another that struck off the coast of Vancouver Island yesterday morning, seismologists said.
Last night's quake was not expected to produce any aftershocks, scientists said.
In Aberdeen, 20 miles west of the epicenter, Grays Harbor Community Hospital reported four people with minor quake-related injuries, including a man who fell off a roof and a baby dropped by a woman.
The Gray's Harbor County Courthouse sustained some minor damage to court rooms, while Moore's Appliances, an Aberdeen business, saw part of its roof collapse, officials said.
Gas leaks, toppled chimneys and power outages were reported throughout Grays Harbor County, said Rob Harper of Washington State Emergency Management, with damage in Hoquiam, Aberdeen, Brady, Satsop and Montesano.
As a precaution last night, Olympic Pipe Line Co. temporarily shut down its 400-mile long fuel pipeline when the quake struck, said dispatcher John Smith.
Last night's quake was similar to one near Olympia that registered 7.1 in 1949 and another that was measured at 6.5 near Renton, south of Seattle, in 1965.
A total of 14 people died in the two quakes, which caused substantial damage to the region.
"The only historical earthquakes that have done significant damage were ones that occurred like this one, deep down in the subduction plate . . . these quakes can kill people," Steve Malone, a UW seismologist, said.
Those who felt the quake said it hit hard.
"It was bang, bang, bang and just before it ended the ground swayed," said Marshall Baldwin, who was watching T.V. in his Satsop home. "I could see my car out in the driveway bouncing around. It was pretty exciting really."
"We had a couple tables and we were doing some work in the back room," said Beth Watkins, a waitress at The Oriole restaurant in Hoquiam. "Then the floor just started rolling and we ran for the door."
Even in Seattle, it startled people. Diners at the Space Needle felt the floor jump.
"It felt kind of like a wind storm," said a manager at the Needle.
Shopping at Seattles's Westlake Center, tourist Steve Gershik was looking for bargains not an earth-moving experience.
"I saw the fixtures in the mall moving," he said. "It was so incongruent. You don't expect to come from San Francisco and feel an earthquake."
Seismologists said it appears the quake was caused by a fracture deep in the Juan De Fuca plate.
Scientists have only recently discovered that the Pacific Northwest is at risk for some of the most massive earthquakes the planet can produce. Three different categories of quakes can occur here, they said: Deep, shallow and subduction.
Subduction quakes have the capacity to produce huge quakes, due to the slow-motion collision taking place between massive pieces of the Earth's crust, called tectonic plates. In the Northwest, subduction results from the Juan De Fuca plate located off the coast of Washington and Oregon running into and then under the North American plate.
No major subduction quakes have occurred in historical times, but scientists have found evidence to indicate quakes of magnitude 9 or even greater have hit the Northwest over geologic time.
Yesterday's quake was a deep quake in the subducting plate, said Bill Steele, UW seismology lab coordinator.
In Golden, Colo., at the U.S. Geological Survey offices, seismologists estimated yesterday's quake at magnitude 5.5. But the Pacific Northwest Sesimograph Network at the University of Washington seismology lab in Seattle pegged it at 5.1.
Yesterday's quake was unlike the one that was centered near Maury Island Thursday night, which was smaller and shallow.
The shaking force of yesterday's quake was estimated to be 1 percent 'g,' or 10 times the shaking force necessary to be felt -- one reason why so many residents felt it from so far away, Malone said.
This is the first time, he said, that seismologists have been able to record with such precision a quake of this size and depth. Data will help scientists understand the deep geologic structure of the region, he said.
A network of fault lines criss-crosses the Puget Sound area, scientists say.
According to former regional Federal Emergency Management Agency earthquake program chief Linda Noson, there's a 10 percent probability of a quake of at least 7.5 in the next 50 years.
Around the Puget Sound, residents, tourist and workers were rattled from their dinner hour activities as the quake felled pictures from wall, moved furniture from side to side and sloshed water from swimming pools.
Heather Churchill, 20, a waitress at the vintage Tokeland Hotel, was waiting on a table during the dinner rush when the quake rattled her.
She thought her diners were shaking the table.
"Everything else in the hotel was shaking and then the cook yelled that we needed to go outside," she said. "It felt like you were in the ocean, rocking," she said. "I looked down and my feet were shaking from the quake. It was scary."
Katherine White, owner of the 12-room hotel where seven people stayed last night, said the tremors lasted at least 40 seconds.
It caused a quarter-ton, antique organ to shift side-to-side, knocked out some phone service and shook plates set on railed shelves.
Satsop resident Stacy Charette initially thought the earthquake trembling from a log truck.
"As the rumbling started getting louder, I thought, 'train,' and then I looked around and right then it hit me, 'earthquake'," she said.
She grabbed her 2-year-old daughter who was coloring and yelled for her 10-year-old son to run to the doorway.
"We felt it real good," she said. "Things tipped over. I could see the walls moving and I could hear the house creaking. I just wanted to grab my kids and get in the doorway. There was a lot of creaking. A few things fell of shelves."
On Pier 66, Rick Wilkins was talking to two women in the Harbormaster's office when the quake struck.
"The whole pier shook," he said. "Then people were walking around nothing happened. They looked surprised, then were real nonchalant."
The quake sloshed water from the pool at the the Best Western Lighthouse in Ocean Shores.
"I was just about to get into the elevator when things started shaking and the doors started moving," said Jim Rutto, a maintenance man. "And I thought to myself "I'm not getting in that. I'll take the stairs."
The network, operated by the University of Washington, collects such "felt report" questionnaires via the Internet and tabulates them.
People reported fallen brick walls, toppled chimneys and collapsed ceilings, said UW seismologist Steve Malone. He said the reports help scientists study the earthquake's effects, and he expects more reports in the next few days.
Shaking
P-I reporters Mike Barber, Judd Slivka, Lisa Stiffler contributed to this report.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS Details on damage
Less than two hours after a magnitude 5.1 earthquake rocked Satsop last night, more than 300 people had contacted the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network to describe what they felt.
Weak -- 55
Reaction
Mild -- 99
Moderate -- 92
Strong -- 27
Violent -- 2
Excitement -- 133
Objects off shelves
Somewhat frightened -- 60
Very frightened -- 9
Panic -- 4
Few -- 28
Pictures askew
Many -- 4
Everything -- 1
55
Furniture moved
10
Building damage
58
Cracks
Chimney -- 6
Collapsed ceiling
Wall and ceiling -- 2
Foundation -- 1
Windows -- 2
Pipes -- 1
1
Building off foundation
1
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