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Sound Clip: Earthquake During Band Practice Excerpt by Margaret Noble.

I bought it on Ebay for $15. Side one is a documentary style recording explaining the event. Side two (presented here) is the tape running during band practice while the earthquake occurs. This happened at Puyallup, Washington High School in 1965.

Update:

A student from Puyallup, Washington High School in 1965 found this post and wrote me about this earthquake:

“I am not one of the musicians. The recording was made on the third floor of the school. It was a band room practice room where the recording was made.  There was more recording than I heard on the internet.  The shaking triggered the fire alarm.  After the shaking stopped, I heard the fire department coming and the civil defense all clear siren echoing off the hills.  I tried to get out of the building while the quake was happening, but ran into the teacher.  On the original recording, you can also hear the sounds of the students coming back into the band-room and their reactions.  The money raised by selling the recording bought new band uniforms.

After the earthquake, we were allowed to go back into the building about 100 students at a time to retrieve our belongings and then were sent home.  School resumed the next day as usual.  Apparently there was a building inspection, but damage was not discovered until many years later.  My mom taught school in Puyallup and the chimney at the old Stewart Elementary went through the ceiling of the classroom that had been hers before the teachers and students were moved into the new building on an adjacent lot.”