Seattle Earthquake, February 28, 2001

 

"The Rattle In Seattle"

 

Seattle experienced an earthquake, 6.8 Magnitude, this morning at 10:55am (PST).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 jumping about. I was stopped in traffic directly in front of the Bellevue Hyatt, and looking up through my 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, in the Pacific. 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...

 

 

 

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, just after the shaking...  and NE 4th St...

 

 

 

 

 

Ridgewood-G...

 

 

 

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