Business shakes off quake’s dust

By Leslie Moriarty

Herald Writer

EVERETT — Nine months after an earthquake ruined her business, Paulene Watson of Everett is finally putting her life back together.

Watson, with her husband, Jeff, owned Innovative Plastics, a company that made display products.

The business was located at 2920 First Ave. S., in the area of downtown Seattle that was hardest hit by the Feb. 28 Nisqually earthquake. At the time, Watson was in the building and watched it collapse around her.

Quake preparedness

Here are some tips for business owners to prepare for the next earthquake:

Take emergency training so you know the proper ways to react when an earthquake hits.

Have an emergency kit ready with bandages and water. Keep a list of important emergency numbers in the kit. Don’t forget the insurance agent’s phone number.

Keep plywood on hand to board up windows as soon as possible. That will cut down on looting.

Don’t keep important insurance papers around, or make sure you have copies at another location. Some of Paulene Watson’s important tax records and other papers were ransacked following the quake.

Think ahead. Have a plan and have a designated escape route and outside meeting place to gather so you’ll know that all employees made it out safely.

She ran out the front door carrying her 2-year-old granddaughter, who was visiting, while the child’s father, her son Adam, ran out the back door.

When they reunited and learned everyone was safe, Watson discovered she’d been hit on the shoulder and the leg from falling debris. But compared with her building, she was fine.

"It was in shambles," she said. "Bricks were just falling everywhere."

In the next few days, she and her husband decided they could not save the 100-year-old brick building that had been in the family for three generations. Immediately, Watson began looking for alternate suppliers for her customers, including Millstone Coffee, Fluke and GTE.

She made plans to move the equipment from the business to storage in Everett. Everett Mall Mini-storage donated space, and J&R Truck Rentals offered a truck at no cost.

Once they had all the machinery in storage, they began looking for a permanent home. They found one at 607 SE Everett Mall Way, Suite 29, nearer to where they live. The new business name is Focus Displays.

"The commute was really getting to all of us," she said. "We’re glad to be in Everett now."

The plastics business lost some customers because they won’t come to Everett, but the business is getting back on its feet, she said.

"It’s a struggle to get things going again," she said. "But we’ll get there."

The experience, however, prompted her to decide that it was time to pass along the family business to her son and "just become an employee instead of the boss."

"It’s what we had planned to have happen eventually anyway," she said. "After the earthquake and with the move, it just seemed like the right time."

All of the stress of re-establishing the business caused Watson and her husband to separate.

"With stress, it either brings you closer together or drives you apart," she said. "In our case, it tore us apart."

They remain friends and both are working to make the business successful for Adam — the third generation of the family to operate a plastics business. The original building in Seattle was demolished and is now a parking lot.

The earthquake also caused her to become better prepared.

"I decided I never wanted to be standing out there on the street not knowing what to do," she said. "So I got myself ready for the next one."

She took a Citizen Emergency Response Team training course so that she is prepared to react in an emergency. She also has a better paper trail for the documents she will need after an emergency.

And she has earthquake insurance.

"We didn’t have any before," she said. "It’s expensive. But not having it can cost a lot, too."

You can call Herald Writer Leslie Moriarty at 425-339-3436

or send e-mail to moriarty@heraldnet.com.