On 28 February 2001, at 10:54 a.m. local time, a moment magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Washington State.  The epicenter was about 40 miles/60 km south of Seattle, just north of the Nisqually River delta in southern Puget Sound.  The hypocenter or focus was located about 35 miles/50 km below the Earth's surface.  This rather deep earthquake (for Washington State) was associated with the Juan de Fuca plate grinding away towards the northeast underneath the North American Plate.  In fact, the 2001 Nisqually earthquake was produced by movement along a normal fault (one block dropping down to the east) that cut across the subducting Juan de Fuca plate.

    I'm going to be adding stuff to this page as time goes by.

NOT a 6.8 Richter Magnitude
   You knew it all along, it wasn't really that big.  Read why.

Seattle Central Community College damage photos (copyright 2001 Joe Hull and 2001 Lawrence Morales)
    View the damage both inside and outside.  The building did great!

Magnolia Bridge damage photos (copyright 2001 Sue Roth).
    Wave bye-bye to the Magnolia Monster.

Evaluate Room Hazards: You Make the Call
    Using my classroom at SCCC, see if you can identify the potential hazards, and where to go during a quake.