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Seattle begins recovery
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March 1, 2001: 12:35 p.m. ET
Businesses assess quake damage; Amazon, Starbucks headquarters shut
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Seattle began picking up the pieces Thursday from a powerful earthquake that tore through the area -- causing as much as $1 billion in damage, but sparing the region widespread devastation.
The earthquake, which reached a magnitude 6.8, ripped through Seattle and western Washington state Wednesday. The quake lasted 45 seconds -- enough time to cause major damage, close businesses and send people fleeing home.
However, only one death -- a 66-year-old woman from the Seattle suburb of Burien who suffered a heart attack -- was attributed to the quake. About 215 people were injured; 25 were hospitalized, four of them in serious condition due to falling debris.
The powerful earthquake -- the strongest in Washington state in a half- century -- could have been much worse, Seattle residents said. The quake and Thursday's mild aftershock were centered 30 miles below the earth's surface, softening the blow.
Shaken and stirred
The quake affected all residents Wednesday, halting a speech from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, trapping visitors atop Seattle's landmark Space Needle, and temporarily closing the Seattle-Tacoma airport.
"This was a big one but not the big one," said Amazon.com spokeswoman Kristin Schaefer, who also lived through 1994's Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles. "It could've been a lot worse."
The strong quake failed to shake Amazon.com's Web site, whose service remained uninterrupted throughout the shocks. Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates) evacuated its nearly 300 employees at its Seattle headquarters, and personnel in two other buildings were also sent home.
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"This was a big one but not the big one. It could've been a lot worse."
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Kristin Schaefer
Amazon.com spokeswoman |
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Amazon.com's corporate headquarters remained closed Thursday, with employees working from home, Schaefer said. Minor damage occurred to the 12-story landmark building that was being inspected for safety.
Staffers in the other two builders were back at work Thursday and all employees are expected to return Friday.
Amazon.com does not ship out of Seattle anymore, so its business was relatively unaffected, Schaeffer said. "There was no impact on our ability to conduct business," she said.
Amazon.com shares rose by 19 cents to $10.38 in afternoon trading Thursday.
Microsoft emerged relatively unscathed from the quake. The computer giant's Seattle campus—Sammamish-which employs about 1200 people, suffered minor damage such as broken windows and tiles. Of the three facilities in Seattle, only one is still closed Thursday, a spokeswoman said.
Microsoft's main campus in nearby Redmond, which employs about 20,000 staffers, was open Thursday, with all employees at work.
"We are looking to see if there was any damage to the main campus though none has been reported," the spokeswoman said.
Microsoft websites and networks were unaffected by the quake, she said. Shares for Microsoft fell $2.56 to $56.44 in afternoon trading.
Pouring coffee?
Starbucks retail stores were serving coffee Thursday for shook-up residents, but the coffee shop's corporate offices were closed. The company's 85-year old headquarters building suffered too much structural damage, said Neal Anderson-Himmelspach of Starbucks customer relations .
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 CNNfn's Katherine Barrett chats with Orin Smith, CEO of Starbucks about the quake's impact on his operations. |
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"There is a lot of damage on the inside, the water mains are broke, but everything is currently being fixed," he said.
Starbucks computer network was also down due to the earthquake, but the coffee retailer did have running water and electricity, Anderson-Himmelspach said. Starbucks (SBUX: Research, Estimates) said it was still assessing the damage and could not give estimates.
Anderson-Himmelspach also did not feel the 3.4 aftershock that rattled the Seattle area Thursday morning.
"It could have been a lot worse," he said. "There are lots of scared people."
Starbucks stock slipped 63 cents to $47.
A Boeing Co. spokesman in the Seattle area could not be reached. A note on the aircraft manufacturer's Web site said Boeing's Everett, Wash., plant did suffer some damage, "but nothing that will affect production or safety."
Boeing's (BA: Research, Estimates) Seattle headquarters on East Marginal Way was also closed Thursday, but employees were permitted to retrieve items. Boeing's Puget Sound facilities, which include its Bellevue data center, were open and working as usual.
Shares for Boeing fell $2.70 to $59.50 in afternoon trading Thursday.
Milder than Northridge
Washington Gov. Gary Locke estimated that the damage from the quake could exceed $1 billion. However, a spokesman from insurer Allstate Corp. said that Seattle's damage was much less than the 1994 Northridge quake in Los Angeles that measured a 6.7 magnitude.
"Northridge was one of the biggest disasters in U.S history," said company spokesman Justin Schmitt. "Seattle doesn't appear to be on that scale."
Allstate handled 46,000 claims and paid out $1.8 billion to policyholders due to the 1994 quake.
Washington state policyholders have started submitting claims for damages, but it is still very early to start tabulating the costs, Schmitt said. Allstate Corp. (ALL: Research, Estimates) has sent a special team of claims adjusters -- the National Catastrophe Team -- that specializes in weather-related disasters to Seattle.
Victims are still too busy checking on their families and friends to really start making claims, Schmitt said, adding that the majority of claims are yet to come.
"Earthquake damage can be subtle because structural damage isn't obvious to a lay person," he said. "Engineers and adjusters have to inspect residential and commercial property to see if there is damage."
Allstate shares gained 44 cents to $40.30 Thursday. 
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