After the quake
An old scan of a photo I took in Seattle after the 2001 earthquake.
I worked in Pioneer Square at the time, the oldest part of Seattle, where the buildings are all made of brick. (There was a building ordinance passed after the 1889 fire that burned down the entire area that any new buildings had to be made of brick.) The building I worked in was over 100 years old and I didn't know until after the quake that it had been earthquake-proofed. I thought when we walked outside, all the buildings would be just piles of rubble, so to see just some bricks had caved in and a water main broken wasn't that big of a deal. Although one bunch of bricks fell right on top of someone's truck and smashed it.
This is the Alaskan Way viaduct, runs along Seattle's waterfront, and it isn't earthquake proof. I think it if collapsed, Seattle's entire waterfront would cave in. The sea wall is also not earthquake proof at this point.
After the quake
An old scan of a photo I took in Seattle after the 2001 earthquake.
I worked in Pioneer Square at the time, the oldest part of Seattle, where the buildings are all made of brick. (There was a building ordinance passed after the 1889 fire that burned down the entire area that any new buildings had to be made of brick.) The building I worked in was over 100 years old and I didn't know until after the quake that it had been earthquake-proofed. I thought when we walked outside, all the buildings would be just piles of rubble, so to see just some bricks had caved in and a water main broken wasn't that big of a deal. Although one bunch of bricks fell right on top of someone's truck and smashed it.
This is the Alaskan Way viaduct, runs along Seattle's waterfront, and it isn't earthquake proof. I think it if collapsed, Seattle's entire waterfront would cave in. The sea wall is also not earthquake proof at this point.