the 1964 quake, but the duration was only 2 minutes vs. 5 minutes from 1964. I couldn’t imagine 5 minutes of that! The recent quake was shallower and closer than the ‘64 quake, so we felt the 7.0 equally to the 10.4 (1964).” “However, everyone is thankful for no deaths and strong building codes es- tablished after the 1964 quake that hit the area. As a community we’ve learned from prior earthquakes and it paid off.” According to Kris, everyone is still on edge due to aftershocks. “In the 2 days afterward we had over 200 aftershocks, some of which were over 5.0 in magni- tude. It created a high stress PTSD atmo- sphere due to interrupted sleep during nights, fear of the next ‘twin’ shaker, and late nights cleaning up at work and home. I personally had only one dish bowl survive the quake, and it took 1/2 a day to stop shaking from adrenaline.” “We haven’t totally recovered but we are 85 percent there. And, we’re still having 2-3 quakes per week [as of the end of December], but people have settled into this as the ‘new norm.’ Our area was hit hard. I have one friend with a condemned home, two of our area schools will not reopen this year (if ever), many homes on marshy ground sunk 6-12 inches on one side or anoth- er, and cracks and road damage is com- mon around the entire city.”

The media reports that the strong building codes that resulted from the 1964 earthquake were attributed as saving lives, reporting no deaths, and keeping the large buildings, bridges and infrastructure upright. The largest damage was to the roadways where the asphalt cracked like ice.

Northwest Auto Parts is surely count- ing its blessings this winter with life-sav- ing procedures in place and damage that is time-consuming to repair and clean up, but fixable.

—Caryn Smith AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLING • January-February 2019 65