Buildings in downtown Seattle swayed for about a half a minute. Television pictures from downtown Seattle showed shattered windows and crowds of people on the streets.

Rod Kauffman, executive vice president of the Seattle-King County Building Owners and Managers Assoc., tells GlobeSt there are reports of a terra cotta falling off buildings in downtown's Pioneer Square, a crack in the Capital's dome in Olympia and a fire in a Carpet Exchange building in West Seattle.

Television stations are reporting that Starbucks Coffee's headquarters was damaged, that 30 people are or were stuck in the Space Needle, and that some 17,000 homes were without power. A manager with Bank of America working in Seattle's tallest office building, the Columbia Tower, tells GlobeSt the building shook and swayed for nearly 45 seconds, causing office workers to scramble for cover under their desks.

According to the Associated Press, the quake was the largest to hit the Northwest since March 25, 1993, when a 5.6 earthquake that was centered 35 miles south of Portland. That quake caused $30 million damage and is considered the most destructive earthquake in Oregon's history.