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Isle students BRENDA Higashimoto sat in a math lecture at the University of Washington -- not really alert -- when the ground started shaking slightly.
feel earth move on
Seattle campus
'It was one of the scariest
experiences of my life'
Quake seemed like 'special effects'
By Leila Fujimori
Star-BulletinShe thought it was from construction.
Also on campus, Geoffrey Cheng was in a classroom laboratory. He noticed a slight tremor.
"I thought it was a student kicking my chair. Then for about 30 to 45 seconds, the entire room shook, but it seemed like an eternity."
The two are among the hundreds of Hawaii students going to the Seattle campus.
"It was one of the scariest experiences of my life because it was so unexpected," Higashimoto said.
Higashimoto, a sophomore from Kaimuki, said her first reaction was: "Oh, no. It's not like this in Hawaii. I was wondering how I could get in touch with my family."
She was unable to connect using her cellular phone.
Higashimoto called her sister, who had left a message for her.
"I told her to tell my parents I'm fine."
Cheng, a third-year pharmacy intern from Salt Lake, said: "Instructors told everyone to get under their desks. We were worried about things falling on us."
He could see the drywall panels shifting. "You could feel the floor move -- vibrating and jiggling. Tables were jiggling, books falling off shelves, cabinets rattling."
Local residents can donate to the American Red Cross, which is offering meals and basic health services after the Washington state earthquake. Red Cross disaster
fund seeks donationsDonations may be made to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by calling 1-800-HELP NOW.
Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund also may be sent to American Red Cross, Hawaii State Chapter, 4155 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu 96816, or to American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.
Internet users may make a secure credit card contribution by visiting http://www.redcross.org.
"A lot of people were really scared. Several were from the city of Seattle and many said they had never felt an earthquake so strong."
In the three years Cheng has lived in Seattle, he's felt one or two tremors, but they were only slightly noticeable and felt like driving over speed bumps.
Classes in his section were canceled for the rest of the day because of chemical spills in the microbiology, biochemistry and chemistry laboratories.
"It gives a whole new meaning to shake, rattle and roll," said Johnny Rouse, a former Hawaii Kai resident and security director at the Experience Music Project, a new rock-and-roll museum 150 yards from the Space Needle.
"It was marvelously sturdy throughout the rumblings and the shaking," said Rouse, who worked for 10 years as a security chief at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
At Honolulu Airport, Dexter Winemiller telephoned his girlfriend, who told him that she caught the television as it was about to fall in their Seattle apartment, but that everything else fell off the shelves.
"She's going to wait for me to come home so I can clean it up," said Winemiller.
He was in line about 1:20 p.m. yesterday to check in for his flight for Seattle after vacationing in Hawaii.
When he got to the check-in counter, he was told the flight had been delayed and he would be advised at 6 p.m. last night. Winemiller checked in his luggage and planned to wait for the flight.
Dentist Keith Redd said he has been in Hawaii for three weeks and had a full day of patients scheduled for today. He and his wife, Toula, had returned their rental car and checked out of their hotel, only to be told they would have to wait until 6 p.m. to find out what would happen.
They are from Edmonds, Wash., 15 miles north of Seattle.
Another would-be passenger, Pat Sullivan, who lives near the quake's epicenter in Hood Canal, said: "I am concerned about the condition of the place.
"We saw the news on CNN. They make a big deal about a little bit of damage, so we want to get home."
Seemed like Makiki resident Katherine Sakuda thought for a moment that Microsoft legend Bill Gates really rocked the Westin Hotel/Seattle yesterday.
‘special effects’
An islander at a Bill Gates
seminar attributed the
commotion to himBy Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin"It was quite exciting," she said.
"In the beginning, the audience really did think it was his special effects," said the school renewal specialist.
"We thought it was part of his presentation. He was going to have his special effects on, unveiling his Windows XP," she said. "It's going to be his new software."
Sakuda was there representing the state Department of Education, attending the three-day Microsoft Connected Learning Community Teaching Summit, when the Seattle earthquake hit at 10:54 a.m. (8:54 a.m. Hawaii time).
What did Gates say when the earthquake started? "He didn't say anything. When the bits and pieces of plaster started falling from the ceiling, everyone just started to leave," she said.
She arrived back here at 9:15 last night on a Northwest flight that was delayed nearly three hours because of damage to the control tower at Seattle-Tacoma Airport.
Sakuda, who had experienced smaller tremors in Hawaii, eventually grasped what was going on in Seattle.
"There were more than 500 people that were in the banquet hall that were just freaking, that were quite visibly shaking because they had never been part of an earthquake before," she said.
"We were advised by the hotel staff to go to the ground floor and wait -- because part of the light system started falling off."
The staff later told them Bill Gates was ready to begin again after his assistants reset his special effects. But not many stayed, she said. A friend told her that about four people were on hand when Gates began anew.
HILO -- Former Big Island resident Cheryll Halsey, now living north of Seattle, says her 4-year-old granddaughter knew yesterday's earthquake was coming because the family border collie told her so. Dog warns family of
impending ‘earthshake’By Rod Thompson
Star-BulletinOlivia Lujan told her mother, Lisa , that their dog Shane wanted to be let out of his kennel immediately. Olivia has been close to Shane since she was born.
"He wants out right now," Olivia said. Before her mother could ask why, the quake hit.
When it was over, Lisa asked her daughter what she had been saying about Shane.
"Shane talked to me," Olivia said. Shane told her, "There's an earthshake coming and I can feel it in my bones. Get me out right now."
Halsey said she was a few miles away in a house converted to office space.
"There was no big bang, but it was rumbling and shaking when I was in the building," she said.
Running outside, she couldn't feel it anymore, but she saw the tops of trees waving.
Her son, Joel McKenzie, closer to the center of Seattle, was on high ground where he could look down into a valley. "He said he could hear and see the earth rumble as it moved past," she said.