A YORK graduate who witnessed the Seattle earthquake today told of her terrifying experience.

Sarah McConnell, 27, contacted the Evening Press by email shortly after the quake hit the city on the north-west Pacific coast of the United States, leaving 250 injured.

Sarah, a former University of York student, who works as a software designer for telecommunications giant AT&T, in Seattle, said: "I was sitting at my desk typing a document when I felt this really strong vibrating underneath my feet. Though I have not experienced an earthquake before, I knew what it was and I started to bolt for the door. Two of the managers stopped me and had me stand in a doorway with them.

"I was shaking so hard that I almost fell over.

"You could see the whole building swaying and the ceilings and floors move. I felt like the ground was going to give way underneath us. The rumbling lasted for a minute or so, but it felt like hours.

"And they say this wasn't even the big one."

The earthquake knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, shut down Seattle airport and even trapped 30 people on top of the city's famous 605-feet-tall landmark, the Space Needle.

"They say it measured 6.8 on the Richter scale and it originated from 30 miles underground," said Sarah.

"The area of the country I live in is full of volcanic activity due to one of the tectonic plates that's sliding down at a very sharp angle. They think it was one of the plates that caused this disturbance."

Updated: 11:11 Saturday, March 03, 2001