KCIA commemorates Nisqually quake
Narrator Says: When the Nisqually Earthquake struck the Puget Sound Area on February 28, 2001, registering a 6.8 on the Richter scale, employees at King County International Airport knew they had to react quickly to assess damage to the airport runways before they could allow any more planes to take off or land. KCIA Assistant Manager Mike Colmant Says:
Five years ago I was in my office on the ground floor of our office facility at the time, minding my own business when the room began to shake violently. It started off lightly and increased in intensity and pretty soon my file cabinet started falling over, my computer tipped over, the monitor and it was apparent we were having the real thing. 'This is no exercise' is what was going through my head. While we were still accounting for people, myself and a couple of other folks went out onto the airfield, we'd lost power of course, and we made our way out onto the airfield to assess the airfield conditions and it was clear that in some cases we'd suffered catastrophic damage to sections of the runway. Narrator Says:
There was also damage to the control tower and several buildings surrounding the airfield. Many of the people who worked at the airport when the earthquake hit still work there, and they gathered today (6/20/06) to observe the fifth year anniversary of the quake. Airpac Airlines chief pilot Roger Hanson says everyone had to scramble to keep their businesses and airplanes in the air. Airpac Airlines Chief Pilot Roger Hanson Says: It grounded us for, I don't recall exactly how long, a day and a half, two days something like that. But in the meantime we were able to operate out of other airports, for example Portland and Spokane. As far as taxiing and taking off, just to be on the cautious side because of some of the cracks and fatigue, stress cracking in some of the runways I guess. They decided to shut down the short runway and most of the long runway, giving us half the long runway to use, which for our airplanes was fine. Narrator Says:
It took only 15 days after the earthquake for the airport to be operational again. The last remnants of the quake damage at King County International Airport will soon be permanently fixed. Asphalt on the runways and taxiways has continued to settle and deteriorate and will be repaved during a major runway rehabilitation project later this summer.
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