U.S.

Rattled, But Not Damaged

June 10, 2001 / 5:57 PM EDT / AP

Fallen groceries and a couple of broken pipes were the worst damage caused by an earthquake that gently shook western Washington state.

The magnitude 5.0 quake, centered about 30 miles west of Olympia and about 60 miles southwest of Seattle, occurred at 6:19 a.m. Sunday. No injuries were reported.

"I thought it was my husband getting out of bed," said Betty Schultz, of Thurston County emergency management.

The tremor was not an aftershock of the 6.8-magnitude quake that shook the region in February, causing at least $2 billion in damage, said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado.

Cracks found at a juvenile detention center in Grays Harbor did not threaten the structure. A steam pipe broke loose at an Olympia church and a water pipe broke at a Nisqually Valley home.

Boxes of cereal and canned goods fell off shelves at a grocery store in Satsop.

Sunday's quake was about 6 miles north of the epicenter of a 5.5-magnitude quake that damaged several buildings in July 1999, and was about 30 miles west of the February quake.

"It's in the same place, and they're going to keep happening," said Carolyn Bell, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, D.C. She noted the area is geologically active because of its volcanoes and shifting tectonic plates.