3.7 quake rattles Western Washington

05/30/2003

By KING 5 Staff and Wire Reports

SEATTLE – Thousands felt it, but so far no damage or injuries are reported from Thursday night's Western Washington earthquake.

But the 3.7 magnitude quake did send emergency crews out to key Western Washington roads and bridges, where inspectors are double checking for any possible damage.

The earthquake, which occured around 9 p.m. Thursday, had a magnitude of 3.7 and was centered 7 miles southwest of Bremerton at a depth of about 14 miles, the University of Washington's Department of Earth and Space Sciences reported.

Transportation officials spent the night double checking Western Washington's key roads and bridges after Thursday's shaker. One of those key roadways is Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct, where officials continue to inspect for any potential dangers.

Inspectors search for the tiniest of clues that may indicate a big problem. While the earthquake was minor, officials say it doesn't take much to harm the old viaduct.

"Anything within proximity of the viaduct or any of our major structures, we're usually out here checking, making sure there's no damage," said David Dinges, Washington Transportation Dept. “We’re measuring the expansion joint openings, we have scribe marks on the bridge to make sure there’s been no further movement from this quake.”

So far, inspectors haven’t found any damage yet on the viaduct or any other roadways, but the aging viaduct is most likely causing nervous nights for some Seattle city leaders. Just hours before Thursday’s quake, they were warning the old structure is a quake catastrophy in waiting.

"But it’s crumbling," Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said at a public appearance Thursday, "and our next major earthquake is going to render it unusable."

Last night's quake didn't do that, but it did get the needles moving at the UW Seismology Lab and has experts waiting for more.

"This is a little bit puzzling," said Steve Malone, UW Seismologist. "Earthquakes at this depth sometimes will have some (aftershocks) sort of at the bottom of the zone, where we would expect to see some aftershocks. But I'm not seeing any."

The earthquake was felt widely around the Puget Sound region. Callers to KING 5 News reported feeling "a boom" or "a shudder" with several saying their windows rattled.

The quake was felt from Tacoma and Eatonville to the south as far east as Issaquah, about 35 miles east of the quake.

"We sort of consider it medium small," Malone said, "large enough, certainly, to be felt over a moderate area but not big enough to likely do any damage".

Malone said it was a "medium deep" earthquake that could be "moderately widely felt," and he noted it occurred when people were at home and resting.