P-Town Escapes Earthquake Unharmed

PORTLAND-There are about 20 earthquakes a year in Portland, most of which you don’t feel. The one centered near Olympia, WA yesterday was definitely one you could feel here, but that’s about it. No building facades fell off, no glass broke, no roads buckled, no mudslides occurred. Seattle got it all, and Portland got virtually none of it.

“The one yesterday was pretty minor,” says Jim Mark, president of Melvin Mark Companies, a local real estate development, management and brokerage firm that owns several office buildings in the region. “You would want to send qualified people through to check out buildings that already had structural damage or that have visible cracks from the earthquake,” but Melvin Mark’s buildings had neither problem, so closer examinations weren’t necessary.

Other building owners and developers around town, including Ashforth Pacific, which owns several buildings int he Lloyd District, also reported no damage to buildings. The Multnomah County Courthouse was evacuated because it has not had a major retrofitting for earthquakes. It is being thoroughly inspected today.