But miraculously, hours after the 10:54 a.m. (1:54 p.m. EST) quake -- considered strong enough to cause major damage -- there were no reports of fatalities although injuries numbered in the dozens.

Geophysicists at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., put the quake's epicenter some 30 miles southwest of Seattle, and 10 miles northeast of the state capital Olympia along the coast of Puget Sound.

The temblor was also felt in Vancouver, British Columbia, to the north of Seattle and Portland, Ore., to the south.

Washington state Gov. Gary Locke declared a state of emergency, estimating the damage to roads and buildings in the billions of dollars. President Bush promised that he would rush aid to the state if necessary.

Locke said in a TV interview that the damage was primarily structural and could run into the billions of dollars.

``A lot of overpasses and roads ... have sunk,'' Locke added, noting the governor's mansion and state capitol building in Olympia had suffered heavy damage.

Seattle officials reported that 16 people were being treated in local hospitals for injuries and that four were in serious condition after being crushed by debris. In addition, hospitals in Olympia were treating 35 people.

The quake sent masonry from Seattle skyscrapers falling to the earth and knocked out power lines serving about 200,000 people, mainly in the Olympia area and nearby towns of Lacey, Tumwater and DuPont.

Such famous Seattle-area corporations as Microsoft and Starbucks suffered damage.

Microsoft, which employs 20,000 people in the Seattle area, said three buildings at a local branch campus suffered broken windows and tiles.

The Geological Survey first reported the earthquake measured 7.0, but then reduced that figure to 6.8 -- a size that still carries potential for major damage.

This did not result because of the quake's substantial depth, estimated at about 30 miles.

Gates Speech Halted

A speech by Bill Gates, the head of software giant Microsoft, was interrupted, 30 people were stranded at the top of the city's Space Needle tower before being rescued and the offices of coffee shop chain operator Starbucks were damaged.

The quake cracked the dome of the capitol building in Olympia.

A Microsoft Corp. spokesman said the company's network and Web sites were unaffected and that Gates resumed his speech after the quake.

``It looked a little more crazy than it was. After things calmed down, people actually filed back in and Bill went back onstage and finished his Q&A,'' the spokesman said.

Bill Steele, a University of Washington seismologist, showed reporters a seismograph needle that broke off the machine because the quake was so large.

Seattle Mayor Paul Schell told reporters: ``I think we have weathered it. It looks so far as if everything is working.''

It was the first major quake for the city since a 6.5 tremor rocked the region on April 29, 1965. Seattle sits on a fault caused by the Juan de Fuca plate sliding under the continental United States.

A 7.1-magnitude temblor in 1949 killed eight people.

Local television said Boeing Corp. sent workers home from its giant plant in Renton just south of Seattle where it assembles 737 and 757 jets.

Seattle's historic Pioneer Square area was also badly damaged. Older brick buildings like a local night club and chocolate company were practically demolished in the quake.

Ron Sims, executive of King County where Seattle is located, declared a state of emergency to allow inspectors to access buildings to assess any damage. ``Our primary purpose is to get seismic inspectors into buildings that we think are frail without going through standard red tape,'' Sims said.

A section of Highway 99, a major north-south freeway that carries traffic to and from downtown, was also closed.

Seattle Tacoma International Airport, the region's main airport, closed for part of the day before reopening, although it was left up to airlines whether to resume flights.

The quake struck moments before Mayor Schell was to give a news conference to explain how Mardi Gras celebrations on Tuesday night got out of control, injuring 70 people and prompting police to use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse unruly crowds.

Everyone seemed to have a story to tell.

``We started bouncing off the walls and we could feel ourselves falling a little bit after we threw the stop switch.'' said Todd Baren, a worker with Internet name registry eNic Corp., who was in an elevator in a downtown office building.

``After we finally stopped we were just swaying, we could feel the elevator banging against the walls, and after 15 minutes the technicians pulled us out and they said we'd fallen a couple floors,'' Baren said.

One local television station which had been taping a downtown news conference caught the moment the quake struck on tape. It showed pictures swaying on an office wall, and people clutching at desks to steady themselves.

Maria Ackley, 62, a resident of Mercer Island, a quiet residential community east of Seattle, was in the kitchen of her home with her husband when the quake struck.

``When it first happened, there was a thundering sound. The doors in the house were rattling and the windows in the kitchen were rippling, literally. It looked like they were waves of water. Everything was shaking. You felt like you were at sea,'' she said.

Walls Fracture

``All the drawers opened up, and any container that had something in it emptied out. And we ran out of the house and our car was in motion,'' she said. When the temblor was over, her husband found a ``major fracture'' in the home's foundation.

The quake rocked skyscrapers, knocking books off shelves, sending doors flying open and driving frightened residents and workers out into the streets.

``We're on the third floor and pictures were falling off the walls, and water was splashing on the floor,'' said one worker at a public relations firm. ``I was on the phone with a friend and she started screaming.''

The wail of police and fire sirens filled Seattle's gray winter skies.

The Harborview Medical Center, one of Seattle's biggest hospitals, quickly evacuated staff and visitors as the quake hit, with one witness telling local television that a concrete wall in the building had splintered apart.

``The whole concrete wall started to split and shattered into pieces and started to come down,'' the unidentified woman told the television. The facility was still open.

``Harborview is prepared and equipped to handle serious and critical patients coming in so they will be able to care for those patients,'' a hospital spokeswoman said.

The earthquake sent a strong jolt as far south as Portland, Oregon. ``I thought I was having a vertigo attack. It was shaking us pretty good ... we're not used to anything like that up here,'' said Mike Hansen, a spokesman at the Portland-based Bonneville Power Administration.

Michael Hosterman, 58, a financial planner who works downtown, said he was on the telephone ``talking to someone, and he suddenly said, 'Earthquake! Bye!' And our building just started rolling like somebody was pushing on it, swaying back and forth.''

``A wall unit was starting to fall over, and my secretary was screaming, 'Stand in the doorway! Stand in the doorway!' and it went on for a long time.''

Asked if anyone were hurt, Hosterman said, ``Physically everybody is okay, but everybody is not okay mentally.''

(China Daily 03/01/2001)