By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawaii residents with family and friends in the Seattle area were shaken emotionally today when an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale rolled through the Puget Sound area.
And Islanders who are malihinis on the Mainland were terrified at the temblor that had tall buildings swaying and sent cascades of bricks plummeting into streets from historic structures.
“I started praying,” Jenny Yukimura of Lihue said with a tremor in her voice, “and I hope there aren’t too many aftershocks.”
Yukimura was able reach her daughter-in-law, Hinda, in Edmonds, Wa., north of Seattle, and learned she and son John Yukimura were okay.
“Hinda said she was out in the yard and didn’t really feel it, except the dog started to bark, and all the dogs started barking,’ Jenny Yukimura said.
“And when she walked into the house, all the cabinet doors were open and there were things on the floor.”
Jon Komine, who moved from Hawaii eight months ago to work for a dot.com company in the heart of Seattle’s Pioneer Square historic area, said “suddenly the building is shaking and people are screaming.
“Being from Hawaii, I didn’t know what to do--you don’t practice for these things in school. And when the other people immediately said get under the desks, I said, ‘No way, get me out of this ancient building.’”
He said he and 300 co-workers eventually raced for the fire escapes and went down to stand in the middle of First Avenue to avoid any debris that might fall. |
