UW seismologist killed in Tuesday's logging truck accident

Other victim identified as geophysics professor

06:13 PM PDT on Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Associated Press and GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News

HUMPTULIPS, Wash. -- Washington state seismologist Anthony Qamar was one of two men killed in a log truck accident on winding U.S. 101 north of Hoquiam, officials said.

Qamar, 62, research associate professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington, died in the crash along with Daniel J. Johnson, 46, a University of Puget Sound geophysics professor, UW seismology spokesman Bill Steele said.

KING

Washington state seismology and University of Washington professor Anthony Qamar.

Qamar and Johnson were on their way to the Olympic Peninsula to collect instruments and data concerning the “slow-slip” quake that recently occurred off the coast, Steele said.

The scenic road between Hoquiam and Humptulips on the western Olympic Peninsula was closed in both directions for about 81/2 hours after the crash.

Johnson, who was driving a 1998 Saturn, went off the road to try to avoid the hazard but the car was still hit by some of the logs and shoved into timber and brush. Johnson and Qamar were pronounced dead at the scene.

The truck was totaled but the driver, Garland Eugene Massingham, 40, of Centralia, escaped injury.

State Patrol investigators wrote that because of an apparent equipment failure, logs fell off a trailer being pulled by a northbound 1992 Kenworth truck. Records from the State Patrol's Commercial Vehicle Division show they inspected 34 J.B. Leonard Trucks over the last two years and removed 12 of them for service because of problems.

That gives JB Leonard 35.3 percent inspection failure record, compared to the national average of 22.9 percent.

A familiar face on KING 5

Anthony Qamar was one of the faces of the UW seismology lab that has been seen on KING 5 News many times, talking about everything from the Nisqually earthuake to Mount St. Helens.

It didn't matter what day it was or what time it was, when the needle on the KING 5 seismogram started shaking we could count on getting Qamar to help us understand what was going on. At this time last year, Mount St. Helens was our lead story, and Tony Qamar was our lead man, interpreting it all for us at the UW Seismology lab.

Bill Steele said Qamar, who joined the Washington faculty in 1983, had been a key scientist among those at the university who study earthquakes and volcanoes. Steele called his death a “huge loss” that has devastated colleagues.

KING

Daniel J. Johnson was a University of Puget Sound geophysics professor.

Qamar had installed a network of seismic equipment all over the region. He and Johnson were on their way to collect data from the equipment when the crash happened.

Now two pioneers and all that knowledge are gone.

"You know you look around and Tony's a part of everything. He helped build this network, he was engaged in research in many different directions and angles."

Johnson had an equally impressive background and was known for cutting edge research involving quakes and volcanoes around the world.

Stewart Lowther, Johnson's professor, described him as "very dedicated, very enthusiastic, dedicated to his field"

"For us geologists, he was a good geologist," Lowther said.

The two men spent careers chasing the big event and were both blessed to have front row seats to some of the most dramatic seismic and volcanic moments of our time, which they shared with the rest of us.

"That love of life and of learning and excitement, it really infused him and it was contagious," Steele said.