In February 28th of 2001, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit the Puget Sound region at 10:54 a.m. There were fewer than 400 injuries and no deaths reported in the quake.
Dubbed the 'Nisqually Quake', the epicenter was located about 35 miles northeast of Olympia, but it's effects were felt over hundreds of miles across the state, and a second, smaller quake rolled through the area 13 miles west of Tacoma the following day.
Because of my building contractor experience, my family calls me whenever they have questions about their homes. Eerily, my brother rang me up the night before the February quake to ask me to inspect the basement supports in his 1905 bungalow.
He claims now that he had no innate sense of impending doom, but that morning, when I saw that the posts supporting the main floor beams under his living room had no positive connections other than a couple of nails, I told him that that he was right to be concerned, some retrofitting was needed.
His timing turned out to be fortuitous.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency came to the Federal Way Lowes Hardware store in May of that year to hold an awareness class designed to help residents and business owners understand how to increase the strength and survivability of their buildings through retrofitting.
"We've discovered that every dollar spent on mitigation saves at least two dollars in repair costs following a disaster," said Carl Cook, FEMA's Deputy Federal Coordinating Officer for Mitigation.
The damage across the state caused an estimated 2 billion dollars, with much of FEMAs financial remunerance going to repair damaged chimneys and other masonry work. (Memo to self: Brick masonry doesn't do so well during earthquakes).
Federal Way lies smack dab in the middle of the Seattle fault and the newly discovered Tacoma fault.
Scientists are remaining somewhat mum about this discovery, however.
"Every time we turn around, we're finding new faults," said Ralph Haugerud, a U.S. Geological Survey gumshoe who's been using lasers to identify hidden faults or abrupt geological changes known as scarps.
Haugerud and his colleagues have been flying over Puget Sound in airplanes, firing millions of laser bursts from above to virtually strip away the greenery.
They've identified nearly a dozen new faults on Bainbridge Island, the Kitsap Peninsula, along Hood Canal near Belfair and in other areas not yet made public.
"We haven't told them yet so I don't want it in the newspaper," Haugerud said.
Oops, Sorry Ralph.
February 28th was a nice, slightly overcast morning. My brother and I were just walking out the door to go to New Lumber and Hardware to buy seismic straps when the quake hit.
We crouched on the sidewalk and watched as the telephone poles on his street bent like they were made of rubber, the lines snapping and whipping. The street actually bucked and rolled in soupy heaves. It was astounding to see and I remember distinctly, feeling very small and insignificant.
After we recovered our senses, and re-inspected the basement posts, we decided that the big shake was a sign that we should go ahead and secure the building.
Down at New Lumber the tremor had knocked some items off of the shelves, so Jim had to shut the store down to clean it up.
The next day, still reeling from Mother Earth's little wake-up call we came back to pick up the brackets and I installed them posthaste.
At my own home, which I built in 1992, things were fine. The dogs were agitated, but they're always that way.
I was home having dinner with friends during the 5.0 earthquake that we had here in January of 1995. The epicenter of this temblor was said to be near Robinson Point, in Puget Sound, but the most damage (some broken dishware) happened in Auburn, right below our house.
When windows began to vibrate violently and the dog howled, the four us jumped up from the table and I shouted, 'Stay away from the windows!'
I bumped my way into the living room and turned off the gas fireplace. My pal Tony, who helped me frame the house, braced himself in the doorway to the kitchen.
Later, I asked him why he did that.
He said, "Hey, Pal..I happen to know there's a nice big set of 2x12s right over my head there."
Not bad advice, and for those of you who have access to a computer, an excellent source of information about preparedness is located at www.quakekare.com or go to the USGS website at www.earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/prepare.html
A statewide Earthquake Preparedness Drill is scheduled for April 21st this year and everyone is encouraged to update their emergency preparations. To see a very good graphic that outlines what to remember, go to www.emd.wa.gov.