At 10:54 a.m. on Wednesday, February 28, 2001, western Washington was rocked by a powerful earthquake. Lasting 40 seconds and measuring 6.8 on the revised Richter scale, the quake caused between one and four billion dollars in damage. With an epicenter at the Nisqually Delta, Thurston County was heavily impacted.
2001 Nisqually Earthquake Struck at Recess
The Nisqually Earthquake is something that survivors haven’t forgotten, even decades later. When the ground first started to shake, some thought it was construction work. Others thought it was artillery practice at JBLM.
Books tumbled off library shelves and bottles shattered at stores. Walls and brick chimneys cracked. Bricks rained down from historic buildings onto the street and shop windows shattered in downtown Olympia.
It was recess at my school in Olympia. I was walking under tall trees in the playfield when I suddenly felt unsteady on my feet. When the shaking stopped, I looked back at the playground. Kids were freaking out, and some were clinging to the swing set. Recess monitors herded us into the playfield as older students began streaming out of the building.
“What happened?” I heard students ask our principal as she walked by. “An earthquake,” she answered calmly.
Washington is an Earthquake Zone
While it might have been many people’s first earthquake, the Pacific Northwest is no stranger to them. Major quakes hit Thurston County in 1949 and 1965.
The Nisqually Earthquake struck 30 miles underneath the Nisqually Delta in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This zone, where the Juan de Fuca plate slides under the North American plate is highly susceptible to tremors.
While the quake’s deep origin limited severe shaking near its epicenter, the Nisqually Earthquake was felt as far away as Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia.
Nisqually Earthquake Made a Big Mess
As soon as the shaking stop, people got to work to clean up and assess the damage. Dozens of people were treated for minor injures and quake-induced cardiac symptoms at Providence St. Peter Hospital and MultiCare Capital Medical Center. A man was kept overnight at Mason General Hospital for observation after being thrown out of a cherry picker.
By 5:30 p.m. power was restored to all but 400 Thurston County PSE customers.
Schools and bridges were closed for days so inspectors could assess the damage. The state closed its offices and told over 10,000 employees to stay home. Legislature went into recess as police tape and barricades went up around the Capitol building to keep the curious away.
Some of the worst damage was in downtown Olympia. Historic unreinforced masonry buildings are highly suspectable to earthquake damage. Much of downtown is also built on loose fill dirt, which can liquefy during quakes.
On the first day, 13 buildings in Olympia were “red-tagged” for immediate evacuation. 13 more were “yellow tagged,” allowing entry only to secure the site and retrieve medication.
After a grueling three days inspectors had looked at 177 Olympia buildings and added 48 to the yellow-tagged list.
The earthquake displaced 52 residents of the Olympian Apartments downtown. Some stayed at a Red Cross shelter at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. Tumwater Mobile Estates was evacuated until a gas leak was fixed. Part of a street in the neighborhood collapsed into a pond, dumping two unoccupied cars into the water.
Closures also included roads. Sections of downtown streets were blocked until repairs could be made. A landslide took out part of northbound US 101 near the junction with State Route 8. DOT paved a temporary lane around the slide the day after the quake.
Heavily damaged Fourth Avenue Bridge in Olympia, however, was closed indefinitely. Deschutes Parkway, built on fill dirt around Capitol Lake, was destroyed. People skirted past orange cones and police tape for a look until a six-foot high chain-link fence was erected. The parking lot of nearby Marathon Park was also destroyed.
Fixing Nisqually Earthquake Damage Took Years
While government officials quickly declared a state of emergency, recovery would take years.
Some damage, like Olympia High School’s Performing Arts Center, proved quick to repair. Some Lincoln Elementary School students were displaced because of damage in the school’s east wing. Classes met at nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church and Trinity Lutheran Church for several weeks.
Other things needed more time to repair. Deschutes Parkway had to be completely rebuilt and only opened for traffic on Halloween 2002, 20 months after the earthquake. Fourth Avenue Bridge was also rebuilt. Construction began in November 2001 and it opened to traffic in 2004. The new bridge was named the Olympia-Yashiro Friendship Bridge, in honor of Olympia’s Japanese sister city.
Repair work on the Capitol Campus also took years. Having undergone extensive seismic retrofitting after the 1949 and 1965 earthquakes, the Capitol had weathered the disaster well. It still needed a $120 million in restoration and repairs. The capitol reopened just ahead of the 2005 legislative session.
Displaced by work in the capitol and in other office buildings, the legislature took over the Pritchard Building. This displaced the Washington State Library, which moved to its current home in Tumwater.
Preparing for the Next Earthquake
While the Nisqually Earthquake injured 400 people and caused between one and four billion dollars’ worth of damage, scientists agree that the disaster could have been much worse. Changes in building codes and seismic retrofitting saved lives.
The Nisqually Earthquake brought new attention to disaster preparedness. It is only a matter of time before another major earthquake strikes. There are many great resources on earthquake safety, such as the American Red Cross. It’s always a good idea to be prepared.
