|
Quake shakes businesses
|
 |
February 28, 2001: 6:46 p.m. ET
Large and small operations in Washington state deal with disruption, damage
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Businesses were still struggling to assess the damage hours after a powerful earthquake ripped through the Seattle area, sending office workers into the streets, injuring dozens and triggering widespread outages and flight delays.
Most businesses sent employees home after the 10:55 a.m. PT (1:55 p.m. ET) quake hit western Washington, as concerns about building safety and power outages made operations impossible.
Detailed information about the damages trickled out, as emergency workers marveled that there were no fatalities.
|
|
VIDEO
|
|
 See the earthquake hit during a speech by Bill Gates at a Seattle hotel. |
|
Real
|
28K
|
80K
|
|
Windows Media
|
28K
|
80K
|
|
"It's been hard to talk to anyone out there," said Tim Neale, spokesman for Boeing Cos. (BA: Research, Estimates)' Washington D.C. office, about operations in the aircraft manufacturers' home region, including its Everett and Renton, Wash., plants. "The cell phone system is overwhelmed. I'm not even getting any e-mails. I heard from someone with the company in California that there wasn't any aircraft damaged, but I'm not even sure about that."
Boeing sent home some 70,000 workers from several factories in the Puget Sound area, where Boeing builds planes like the 747 jumbo jet, so that inspectors could assess any damage, a spokesman said.
Chunks of masonry from Seattle skyscrapers rained on the streets, and damage was heavy in the city's historic Pioneer Square area. Older brick buildings like a local night club and chocolate company were practically demolished. The state's capital, Olympia, also took a hit.
Some of the most serious damage hit the headquarters of coffee shop chain Starbucks (SBUX: Research, Estimates). The company said it would close its main corporate offices for several days to assess the damage.
Click here for CNN.com's complete earthquake coverage
"The Starbucks offices will be closed until a structural assessment of the building can be completed," said Sheri Libby, public relations manager for the company. "As far as we know there are no serious injuries and we are still assessing the status of all of our retail locations."
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
"People assume this just can't happen to me."
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Robert Hartwig
Chief economist
Insurance Information Institute |
|
The region's most famous business leader, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, was giving a speech in Seattle hotel on education and technology conference when the quake hit. He was whisked away as his audience bolted for the exits. Some audience members were knocked down by others trying to get out.
The Microsoft campus east of Seattle in the suburb of Redmond emerged largely unscathed with little or no damage. Most of Microsoft's 20,000 Seattle-area employees work at the campus.
Another company, RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK: Research, Estimates), the top provider of software for sending audio and video over the Internet, also evacuated its headquarters in north downtown, but said its Internet operations remained up and running.
The Federal Aviation Administration shut down Seattle-Tacoma Airport and the nearby Boeing Field-King County Airport to assess possible damage from the quake.
Airlines diverted flights and grounded others, causing a disruption in the air traffic system that rippled across the country.
Most major Internet companies based in the region, such as Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates), remained online, despite the disruption to communications and power in the region.
Click here to see some stocks that may feel the effect of the earthquake.
Washington's largest refined products line, the 330,000 barrel per day Olympic pipeline, was shut, said Dan Cummings, a spokesman for BP Olympic Pipeline.
"Olympic Pipeline was safely shutdown and remains closed. All 400 miles," he said.
Cummings said the company was inspecting the pipeline using aircraft, and there was no indication of any spills or breaks. There was no estimate on a restart time.
It will take a while until insurance adjusters are allowed into the area, although several issued statements that they were sending staff immediately to the area.
But the financial impact on property and casualty insurers may be limited because the typical homeowners insurance does not cover damage from earthquakes, said Robert Hartwig, chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute told CNNfn's Street Sweep. "Unfortunately fewer than a third of homeowners in western Washington state actually purchase supplemental earthquake coverage. People assume, 'This just can't happen to me.'"
Hartwig also said that most major businesses are self-insured for damages such as this, meaning that many of the losses will be paid by the company. He said in the Northridge, California, earthquake of 1994, had insured losses of as much as $15 billion, making it the most expensive earthquake in U.S. history. (334KB WAV) (334KB AIFF)
"That was a more severe quake, and it seems to have been located in a more populous area," he said. Preparation in Seattle should help mitigate the damage, he added.
"Cities like Seattle and L.A. have paid a lot of attention to enacting building codes so their structures can survive earthquakes," he said. "An earthquake of this magnitude in places like India kills tens of thousands of people as we saw a few weeks ago. Hopefully in Seattle nobody died."
Still, Allstate Corp. (ALL: Research, Estimates), the largest stock-owned consumer insurance company, saw its shares fall $1.69 to $39.86 in trading Wednesday.
There didn't appear to be many companies that got a boost in stock price as a result of the quake. Home Depot (HD: Research, Estimates), the nation's largest home improvement and hardware store, lost $2.10 to $42.50 in trading Wednesday, and Lowe's Companies (LOW: Research, Estimates), No. 2 in the sector, lost $1.62 to $55.88.
- From staff and wire reports. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
