Seattle Earthquake, February 28, 2001

  

 

"The Rattle In Seattle"

 

Seattle experienced an earthquake of 6.8 Magnitude this morning at 10:55am (PST). This was my first earthquake. I was in my Explorer at the intersection of NE 8th St and Bellevue Way, central Bellevue, across NE 8th St from the Bellevue Square Mall. At first I thought strong gusts of wind were hitting the side of the Explorer, rocking it back and forth... then the traffic signals started swinging. I was stopped in traffic directly in front of the Bellevue Hyatt, and looking up through the Explorer's moon roof I could see the Hyatt swaying. The overall feeling reminded me of being on the whale watching boat off the coast of Monterey, California. Within a few seconds the sidewalks were full of people from the surrounding buildings, most of whom were already on their cell phones. As soon as I realized what was happening I grabbed my camera, which was right beside me on the front seat. About 10 minutes before the quake, I had been in Kirkland, where I had taken a few shots of Mt. Rainier.  I was poised to take dramatic earthquake pictures, but fortunately there was no apparent damage in central Bellevue...

 

The shot below (CNN) is from downtown Seattle, about 3 miles from where I was when the earthquake hit...

 

 

Seattle Newspaper Report

 

Mt. Rainier, about 15 minutes prior to the quake...

 

This was my vantage point as the tremors rolled through the Puget Sound region. The Hyatt tower was directly to my left...

 

The Bon Marche at Bellevue Square Mall, just after the shaking stoppe... and NE 4th St...

 

Ridgewood-G, my workplace, just to the southeast of downtown Bellevue...

 

Nice peaceful shots, compared to what could have been...