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When the Big One Hits

When the Quake ComesWhen we used to work at the Starbucks in the Bank of America building (nee: Columbia Center), one of our duties was to bring up boxes of cups, napkins and other sundries from the storeroom located in the garage on level E, five stories below ground.

According to one urban legend in the building, the lowest level of the parking garage was supposed to be the safest place to be in downtown Seattle during an earthquake. The Columbia Center, the tale went, was built to such a strict code that nothing could make the thing fall. (Another building legend said that there were more lawyers in the building than in all of Japan.)

Well, according to a recent study, when the big one finally does hit, we're fucked no matter where we are. A team of researchers at San Diego State University used a supercomputer to simulate a 9.0 earthquake on the region.

In short, "What the scientists learned from this simulation is not reassuring, as reported in the Journal of Seismology, particularly for residents of downtown Seattle."

Apparently the scientists used an actual event as a model for their simulated event. On Jan. 26, 1700, "a gigantic earthquake" centered 60 to 70 miles off the coast of Washington struck. In that quake (which sent a tsunami 33-feet high from our coast all the way to Japan), the Juan de Fuca plate slid 60 feet eastward under the North American plate.

To give you an idea of just how bad things will look when we have another earthquake like that, in the computer simulation

The ground moved about 1 ½ feet per second in Seattle; nearly 6 inches per second in Tacoma, Olympia and Vancouver; and 3 inches in Portland, Oregon. The long-duration shaking, combined with high ground velocities, raises the possibility that such an earthquake could inflict major damage on metropolitan areas -- especially on high-rise buildings in downtown Seattle.

Not that we make a habit of it anymore, but we are never going back into the Columbia Center ever, ever again.

We just liked the symbolism in that picture, even if it is just "a little cloud." thanks for putting it in the Seattlest Flickr Pool, by and by.

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By Charles Redell in on February 26, 2008 3:06 PM

Comments [rss]

  • Charles Redell

    Katelyn,

    The first earthquake I ever experienced was in 1995 right after I'd moved here. I was in the basement of the Wing Luke Museum in the Theater off Jackson in the ID. I remember hearing the rumble and looking up to see the giant wood beams swaying and thinking how odd that was...



    Only when it was over and we were looking at the lights in the theater to make sure nothing was gonna fall on the audience did I realize how those giant swaying beams saved my life. Of course, who knows WHAT they'd do in a 9.0?



    If it eases anyone else's mind, I'm gonna be terrified for the next few nights and days as well!

  • Kim Ruehl

    damn you charles, way to give us all something to dream about tonight. although, when i read this:

    In short, "What the scientists learned from this simulation is not reassuring, as reported in the Journal of Seismology, particularly for residents of downtown Seattle."
    i thought you were citing the journal of scientology, which made me giggle.

  • jessejb

    I live in the 6th and Pine building downtown (est 1924, 10 stories, terra cotta, concrete and steel) and not a day goes by where I dont think about how shitty anything over an 8.0 will be if Im in there.



    But I feel better when I think about how at least I dont live in SoDo where I would just sink into liquefacted sand.

  • Katelyn

    In my cavernous new one-story workplace, I imagine the greatest risk in an earthquake would be the giant wooden beams falling on my head. :( Charles, this is not a happy thought.

  • ryanonsummit

    For what it's worth, the wikipedia page for the space needle:

    It is built to withstand winds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h) and earthquakes up to 9.5 magnitude (which would protect the structure against an earthquake as powerful as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake).

  • Charles Redell

    The space needle? I find that really hard to believe. It was built in the 60s after all. Anyone able to back that up?

  • duffy987
    It doesn't sound unreasonable to me. It has far fewer other design requirements. It's not just shorter, but it also doesn't have to support 5000 people on 76 floors with plumbing, HVAC, transportation (3 elevators vs 47) and so on. The needle's foundation is so big it's as heavy as the above-ground structure. It's mostly just a giant skeleton with a massive bottom.

    Normal buildings look stronger from a distance but I think that glass and drywall and ceiling tiles add weight but not actually any significant structural support.

  • Man, I feel comforted now.

  • ryanonsummit

    I recall one of the elevator operators at the space needle saying that the needle was one of the safest places to be in an earthquake. So maybe all the tourists will be the lucky ones.

  • Seattle Veggie

    I used to work in the third basement of the Qwest building across from Pacific Place. During the last earthquake, most of us ran out of the building. After internalizing years of coworkers' jokes about being buried alive in such an event, I think the primal urge to see open sky was too great. In the end the joke was on us - it turns out the third basement was designed as a bomb shelter, ultra-reinforced and with its own water system.

  • fall_line

    Thank you, this is precicesly what I needed to help cheer me up at the end of a long day sitting in my office on the 40th floor of another downtown building.. I'm happy now. :)

  • Wesa

    I almost pissed myself during our last earthquake. I can't imagine a 9.0.

  • Simonian

    For what it's worth, the building of which you speak will topple to its demise under something like the original name. I think it's back to being called the Columbia Tower. But the natural disaster I'm waiting for is when Rainier blows its top and the resulting lahar does the Puyallup up a treat.

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