October 16th, 2006
Hawaii Earthquake! First major one in 23-31 years!
Wow what an odd Sunday - Hawaii was unusually rocked by a 6.7 earthquake - the strongest in Hawaii since 1975! I woke up at about 7:09am to my bed bouncing all over the place, the windows were shaking, everything was rattling, and it felt like our condo was swaying in the wind. It took a few seconds to process what was happening. I looked at my husband & said "i think that was an earthquake but i have never felt anything like that in Hawaii". I’ve felt small like 3 second quakes where before you can finish saying ‘what was that?’ it’s over…but nothing like the quake that happened yesterday morning.
First off please know that there was no major damages (some structural damage occured on the Big Island) & there were no deaths reported related to the earthquake. What you did have was a lot of shaken up people and a state wide power outage that lasted most of the day. It occurred about six miles from Kona, Hawaii, along the west coast of the big island of Hawaii. It was followed about seven minutes later by a magnitude 5.8 aftershock. We’ve been continuing to see small aftershocks, mostly in the 3 range, since then.
The island of Hawaii is part of a chain of volcanoes. It’s what’s known as the Hawaiian hotspot. Gradually as the earth’s crust moves over those volcanoes, it builds up islands and then gradually erodes them away. The island of Hawaii is the latest site over that hotspot. Because of the volcanic activity and the building of these islands, there [are] extra stresses on the [Pacific] plates. While the Big Island experiences thousands of minor earthquakes every year, most are due to volcanic activity and the movement of magma below the Earth’s crust. Experts said Sunday’s quake was likely the result of tectonic plates shifting.
Fairly quickly the Tsunami Center put out a message saying first that the event didn’t generate a Pacific-wide tsunami. Then they followed that up with a report just for the state of Hawaii saying that there was no local tsunami.
While all scheduled flights to and from Hawaii on Monday, October 16 are expected to run as normal, we suggest that people traveling in the next 24 hours reconfirm their reservations directly with their airlines.
Here’s more information on what took place:
Gov. Linda Lingle declared a state of emergency on Sunday, after two earthquakes registering at 6.7 and 6.0 on the Richter Scale, and more than 30 aftershocks, rocked Hawaii’s four counties. The tremors, which violently shook residents and visitors early in the morning hours, caused a statewide power outage, airport closures to inbound and outbound flights, and damage to private and public property.
Island of Hawaii - Near Epicenter - Hit Hard
On the Island of Hawaii, electricity was out, there were severe landslides leading to some road closures, and patients in three Kona-based medical care facilities were evacuated to nearby shelters because the integrity of these structures was questioned. Several Hawaii Island residents, especially in the Kona area, reported structural and interior damage to their homes.
The governor, who was in her room at the Maunalani Hotel in Waikaloa at the time of impact, says her television was thrown twice off of her armoire, and that other hotel guests reported pictures and mirrors crashing to the floor. Some Kona schools will be closed Monday, as the extent of damage to campuses near the epicenter is determined. Kona resident Andy Smith says part of his roof ripped off when the earthquake hit. After attempting to repair his property, he went door to door throughout the rest of the day to help elderly neighbors who had also suffered property damage.
Island of Oahu, Housing State’s Capitol and Majority of the Population, Still in the Dark Through Sunday Night
On Oahu, an islandwide power outage stranded thousands of visitors already checked out of their hotels, but not able to catch flights home because of airport closures. After delaying both international and national flights, and struggling to screen passengers by hand because TSA machines could not be powered, airports opened later in the day and air travel resumed.
There were many hungry visitors and residents – most restaurants closed because of the power outages, and the ones that did open were limiting their menu items to what could safely be served cold. Starbucks on Oahu limited their selection to ice tea, muffins and juice. Local grocery stores, like Safeway and Foodland, let in a few customers at a time as the others waited in long lines outside. Store managers shuttled customers through darkened isles with flashlights. Residents also reported property damage. Theresa Wery, who owns a 100-year-old historic home in Manoa, called a local radio station to announce that her chimney, which is more than 3 stories high, collapsed into her home. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Oahu’s only power plant, still had not restored power to the majority of Oahu residents as of late Sunday night, but promised to work through the night to do so. Around midnight, most of Oahu’s electricity was turned back on.
Maui Sees Road Closures, Property Damage, From Landslides
On Maui, the Hana Highway and other major roads closed because of rockslides, isolating residents in a series of tiny communities. Power was down and airports were closed, but on neighbor islands, power was restored first and airports were reopened before Honolulu International Airport reopened on Oahu. Little additional information was available from Maui as of Sunday evening.