The Puget Lowland Earthquakes of 1949 and 1965
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THE PUGET LOWLAND EARTHQUAKES OF 1949 AND 1965 REPRODUCTIONS OF SELECTED ARTICLES DESCRIBING DAMAGE Compiled by GERALD W. THORSEN WASHINGTON DIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND EARTH RESOURCES INFORMATION CIRCULAR 81 1986 • •~.__.•• WASHINGTONNatural STATE Resources DEPARTMENT OF Brian Boyle - Commissioner ol Public Lands -- Ar1 Stearns • Supervuor • J I·' • F ront oove r : Falling parapets and ornamentation, rooftop water tanks, chimneys, and other heavy objects caused widespread damage during both the 1949 and 1965 events. Such falling debris commonly damaged or destroyed fire escapes, such as the one in the upper left. This Seattle Times photo shows Yesler Way on April 13, 1949. (Photo reproduced by permission of Seattle Times) Back cover: A. Earthquake-triggered landslides cut rail lines in both the 1949 and 1965 events. This slide occurred between Olympia and Tumwater. (1965 Daily Olympian photo by Greg Gilbert) B. "Sand boils" were created by geysers of muddy water escaping from saturated sediments along Capitol Lake. Soil liquefaction, such as occurred here, was a common source of damage in low-lying areas of fill underlain by flood plain, tide flat, or delta deposits. Sidewalk slabs in this 1965 Oivision staff photo provide scale. C. Suspended fluorescent light fixtures, such as this one in an Olympia school, commonly sustained damage du ring the 1965 quake . Three mail sorters were injured in the newly completed Olympia post office when similar fixtures fell. (Daily Olymp ian photo by Del Ogden) WASHINGTON DIVISION Of GEOLOGY AND EARTH RESOURCES Raymond Lasmanis. State Geologist THE PUGET LOWLAND EARTHQUAKES OF 1949 AND 1965 REPRODUCTIONS OF SELECTED ARTICLES DESCRIBING DAMAGE Compiled by GERALD W. THORSEN WASHINGTON DIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND EARTH RESOURCES INFORMATION CIRCULAR 81 1986 ., WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF IIW.a Natural Resources Brian Boyle • Commissioner ol Public Lands Ar1 Stearns • Supervtsor This report is for sale by: Publications Washington Department of Natural Resources Division of Geology and Earth Resources Mail Stop PY-12 Olympia, WA 98504 Price $ 2.32 Tax .18 (Washington residents only) Total $ 2.50 Mail orders must be prepaid; please add $1.00 to each order for postage and handling. Checks must be payable to the Department of Natural Resources. Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS Page Introduction •• . • • • 1 Ackn<>Nledgments . 1 1949 earthquake Lessons in structural safety learned fron the 1949 Northwest Earthquake lnstal lment 1 • . 3 lnstal lment 2 • . 8 lnstal lment 3 • . • 12 Reporting the Northwest Earthquake--Damage to bui I dings • •• • 15 Reporting the Northwest Earthquake--F ran a scientific point of vie.v . • • 19 United States Earthquakes, 1949 •••••• •• •••• . • • 2 5 1965 earthquake The Puget Sound, Washington, Earthquake of Apri I 29, 1965 •• • 35 United States Earthquakes, 1965 •• •• . • • 91 Selected references . .113 iii THE PUGET LOWLAND EARTHQUAKES OF 1949 AND 1965 Reproductions of selected articles describing damage Compiled by Gerald W . Thorsen INTRODUCTION Since the Puget Sound region's most damaging recorded earthquake in 1949, the population of the Puget Lowland has more than d>ubled. Thus, the potential for damage and loss of life in future earthquakes has increased dramatically. Many of the reports of damage caused by that earthquake and more recent quakes were in publications of limited circulation, and many are out of print. Relatively few per sons living in the area today were here during the 1949 event. This selection of reproduced information about the 1949 and 1965 earthquakes is intended to alert newcomers, as well as to remind the older residents, that the Puget Lowland is •earthquake oount ry • • To help bring these earthquakes into current perspective, both monetary and population inflation should be considered. Using current U.S ." Department of Commerce 'price inflators", damage from the 1949 and 1965 earthquakes 'M>uld approach $140 million and $40 million (in 1985 dollars), respectively, Human losses are more difficult to project because of the importance of the time at which a quake occurs. For example, Hopper and others (1975), assuming a 7 .5- magnitude event in the southern Puget Lowland during business and school hours, estimate as many as 2,200 deat hs, 8,700 serious injuries, and 23,500 temporarily homeless. While examining the photographs of damage herein, one should keep in mind a fundamental shortcoming of our knowledge of seismic history: It is too short. The relative recency of settlement of the Pacific Northwest makes it difficult to project what is "normal' . Major earthquakes, like \Olcanic eruptions, may not occur twice in an individual's lifetime. The 1949 quake may not have been repre sentative of maximum shaking, duration of shaking, or depth of focus. Indeed, evidence is building that the Pacific Northwest could be subjected to an event of 8+ magnitude similar to the 1964 Alaska earthquake. Nevertheless, these accounts should remind us of some of the kinds of effects we can expect from the next damaging earthquake. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank James E. Bihr, president of the International Conference of Building Officials, for permission to reprint the two articles from their 'Building Standards' monthly periodical. Barbara Guptill, managing librarian in the Governmental Research Assistance Library of the Seattle Public Library, provided us with original articles for reproduction here. 2 Linda Johnson, of the Library of Congress, searched the records and confirmed that there had been no copyright renewal for the three articles from 'Western Construction•, a magazine that long ago ceased to be published. Don Duncan, Washington State Library, provided us with the original editions copied herein. Jean Boucher, librarian for Shannon and Wilson in Seattle, was very helpful in loaning reports from their extensive collection. Gary Lundell, of the University of Washington Archives, made the Alfred Miller collection available for examination and arranged for copying of some of the photographs in this report. Our special thanks to Connie Manson, I ibrarian for the Division of Geology and Earth Resources, for her untiring effort in tracking oown rare publications and clearing the way for their reprinting. Reproduced from Western Construction, v. 26. no. 2. p. 70-74 (February 1951) 3 1st Installment: Complete Report of a 2-Year Committee Study on- LeSSOnS in Structural Safety Learned From the 1949 Northwest Earthquake A BOUT NOON, Pacific Stand By HARLAN H. EDWARDS Yes, luck- if you want to calJ it that ard Time April 13, 1949, radio listeners Chairman, Earthquake Committee was with us that day. Or could one call were startled by excited announcements Seatlle Section, American Society it the "handwriting on the wall ?" of a violent earthquake in western In the comparatively small proportion of Civil Engineen Washington and Oregon. By declara of buildings damaged, shocking condi tions of disaster which grew in size with tions of building weakness were dis each broadcast the impression was given Neither scenic beauty nor natural wealth closed, conditions of inadequacy of de that the cities of the area were a would have availed anything had the sign and of almost criminally cheap con shambles, though it was far from the shaking continued a little longer, or had struction, duplicates of which exist in t ruth. However, frantic friends, rela there been the strong aftershocks that almost every city and state. Exposed to tives and others in distant areas who have characterized most of the severe public gaze were the too-often-unrecog jammed communication lines for days earthquakes of recent time. T housands nized results of penny-wise and pound in efforts to reach their loved ones could of people who were on the streets at foolish policies which convicted owner. not know that this Pacific Northwest lunch time, that most-feared time for architect and builder alike of neglecting area was the world's luckiest place that the occurrence of an earthquake, could to consider in their structures the effect day. have been buried under tons of parapet on human life of natural seismic forces walls, ornamentation and broken build But the Northwest was favored ! which long since should have ceased to ing fronts. Thousands of children could be "acts of God," which have occurred Outstanding in natural beauty and have been filing out of the doors of their for ages and which may be expected to moderate in weather, favored as a play schools on their way to lunch or play occur anywhere from time to time just ground of the nation, the Northwest was only to be struck down by a hail of lethal as are heavy winds and floods. unquestionably favored at 11 :56 a. m. masonry, could have been crushed in that April 13 by not only the earthquake their rooms by collapsing buildings, or An on-the-spot account of damage but also by the fact that many of the struck down on their playgrounds by Just before noon on that fateful schools were closed "on vacation." falling walls and chimneys. though fortunate April 13, 1949, I was in a construction shack in Chehalis, Washington, checking over plans for a building being erected. Suddenly I How and Why the Seattle Section of ASCE Prepared This Report sensed a vibration and heard a dull ON APRIL 13, 1949, the people of the Society. Beginning on this page is rumble that was foreign to the hustling western Washington and Oregon were the complete report of the Earthquake and hammering of the job. It was more shown that strong earthquakes could Committee of the Seattle Section, A.S. like a heavy truck approaching rapidly occur in their locality. Property damage C.E., the committee being composed of over a rough road. as a result of the quake on that date Harlan H. Edwards, author-chairman; "Something's not right," I thought, totaled more than $15,000,000 and seven Cecil C.