Remembering the 2001 Nisqually Quake

Sunday morning I'm reminded of the big Nisqually earthquake in 2001 from a Facebook post by Vintage King County. They posted the following news link: http://komonews.com/news/local/look-back-nisqually-quake-15-years-later

I remember this quake well. I was on the ground floor of the Banner Building in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, on the phone with a contractor who was across the lake in Bellevue. I was facing out our large, near floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out at what is now the Vine Bldg. Then the land had just been scraped in preparation for construction. I saw a backhoe raise up and down, followed by a mound of dirt raising up and down and another backhoe raised up and down. Western Avenue rippled with a huge wave, like surf rolling in. I thought for a split moment I may have been hallucinating, it just looked so surreal. Then the reality dawned on me. No sooner had I said to the contractor I had on the phone "I think we're having an earthquake," the wave rolled into my office. The solid concrete floor I stood upon began to warp and wave like JELL-O. I asked the contractor (who mind you was less than eight miles away) to hold, and placed the call on park. Just then my office manager ran up to me in hysterics asking me repeatedly whether to stay inside or go outside. Realizing we had many stories of glass facing looming over us, I urged her not to go outside. She bolted out the door. I then staggered to the back of our office see how my other three colleagues were faring. They were huddled under their desks. To lighten the mood I placed my hand against a concrete pillar, supporting the thick, solid concrete loft platform directly above us and said "I'm going to stand below the most fabulous beam in all of ArtSource." Just then the upper floors really began to creak and groan loudly. Suddenly my heart went from light to heavy with a surge of panic. And just as quickly the ground movement ceased. My colleagues came out from their desks. Our office manager came back inside unscathed. Come to find out, the contractor I placed on hold had held the line and we resumed our conversation. Had the quake's epicenter been closer to the surface, we may have had a very different outcome that day. Grateful the impact spared us. Tagged: Kelly, Nantini, Sam, Tina