Sunday, October 15, 2006
Whole lot 'o shakin'....
We had an EARTHQUAKE this morning, at a little after 7am (about 7:09, with an aftershock [update: 5.8] at about 7:15). Local radio is reporting the magnitude at 6.3, centered in just off the coast of West Hawai'i (the other side of the island, abouta hundred sixty-five miles as the mynah flies). Max and I were up, and after about five seconds, I moved us out to the patio.... it kept going for what seemed like forever, but was probably only about 30 seconds. Woody woke up (she'd only just gotten back to bed after I got up and tagged in) and came out. No damage here, though we did lose power for a while (as did a lot of the island), and there are some early reports of road damage, so we won't be driving the Hamakua coast road anytime soon.
Everyone's fine, but we're having to explain tectonics to Max.... Power's back, so we're going to have breakfast now.
Update: Here's the USGS report on our temblor. And this is the visual, showing the aftershocks as well.
There are now some reports of landslides, particularly along the Hamakua coast road (Hilo north to Honoka'a), and we're being told to stay off the roads and phones for the time being. I can't seem to access my university website or e-mail, either, though I can't imagine how that's related (update: The entire island of Oahu has lost power, and the university mail and web servers are at Manoa.) Anyway, we're fine.
Second Update: We're starting to get reports from the West side now, via TV reports, that there is "significant structural damage" in many buildings on the west side. I'm listening to a report from Kohala (north end of the island) about an old sugar mill smokestack that collapsed, and lots of buildings damaged. Not sure what's going on in the resort hotels, some of which were very close to the epicenter.... but nobody's reported serious injuries or deaths yet. The landslides are trouble: we don't have a lot of alternate routes around this island, so road damage can really shut things down. This is reportedly the largest quake on the island since '83. ¶ Sunday, October 15, 2006
We had an EARTHQUAKE this morning, at a little after 7am (about 7:09, with an aftershock [update: 5.8] at about 7:15). Local radio is reporting the magnitude at 6.3, centered in just off the coast of West Hawai'i (the other side of the island, about
Everyone's fine, but we're having to explain tectonics to Max.... Power's back, so we're going to have breakfast now.
Update: Here's the USGS report on our temblor. And this is the visual, showing the aftershocks as well.
There are now some reports of landslides, particularly along the Hamakua coast road (Hilo north to Honoka'a), and we're being told to stay off the roads and phones for the time being. I can't seem to access my university website or e-mail, either, though I can't imagine how that's related (update: The entire island of Oahu has lost power, and the university mail and web servers are at Manoa.) Anyway, we're fine.
Second Update: We're starting to get reports from the West side now, via TV reports, that there is "significant structural damage" in many buildings on the west side. I'm listening to a report from Kohala (north end of the island) about an old sugar mill smokestack that collapsed, and lots of buildings damaged. Not sure what's going on in the resort hotels, some of which were very close to the epicenter.... but nobody's reported serious injuries or deaths yet. The landslides are trouble: we don't have a lot of alternate routes around this island, so road damage can really shut things down. This is reportedly the largest quake on the island since '83. ¶ Sunday, October 15, 2006
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Wow, what a way to start the day!
We've had a couple tiny earthquakes here in Richmond, VA, over the last few years. Really tiny, like 1 or 2. The house shook like it does when a big truck goes by, except that the shaking lasted a lot longer. Not scary as earthquakes go, but frightening when you consider that nothing here, and particularly my historic neighborhood, is built to withstand any kind of earthquake. At least my house isn't brick but it could easily just pop off its foundation.
Anyway, where was I going with that? I'm glad you all are fine and I hope your house is built to take that kind of punishment. You'll have to secure all those shelves you've been setting up. I hope Max enjoys his tectonics lessons. Hey, that might be a good excuse to bake up some cobbler!
We've had a couple tiny earthquakes here in Richmond, VA, over the last few years. Really tiny, like 1 or 2. The house shook like it does when a big truck goes by, except that the shaking lasted a lot longer. Not scary as earthquakes go, but frightening when you consider that nothing here, and particularly my historic neighborhood, is built to withstand any kind of earthquake. At least my house isn't brick but it could easily just pop off its foundation.
Anyway, where was I going with that? I'm glad you all are fine and I hope your house is built to take that kind of punishment. You'll have to secure all those shelves you've been setting up. I hope Max enjoys his tectonics lessons. Hey, that might be a good excuse to bake up some cobbler!
I hadn't thought of cobbler: good metaphors for tectonic plates aren't easy to come by!
The CD shelves are secured, and most of the rest are more or less secured by circumstance. The old shelves, on the other hand, are deathtraps....
It's been a bit hard to get news about what's happening around here: the news stations are all Honolulu based, and they've been freaked out about the power outage. Once they get their precious electicity back, they ought to be able to edit and run tape which will tell us how much actual damage was done.
All this didn't stop us from going to see Annie this afternoon, and there's no evidence whatsoever of damage in Hilo itself. Whew.
The CD shelves are secured, and most of the rest are more or less secured by circumstance. The old shelves, on the other hand, are deathtraps....
It's been a bit hard to get news about what's happening around here: the news stations are all Honolulu based, and they've been freaked out about the power outage. Once they get their precious electicity back, they ought to be able to edit and run tape which will tell us how much actual damage was done.
All this didn't stop us from going to see Annie this afternoon, and there's no evidence whatsoever of damage in Hilo itself. Whew.
Hi, Shawn!
I asked Max if he remembers, and he says it was "That was a scary earthquake." Which is very true.
I asked Max if he remembers, and he says it was "That was a scary earthquake." Which is very true.
I spent a lot of time wondering if you guys were close to the quake and hoping you were doing okay but I never remembered to leave you a note telling you how glad I was you were safe!
I followed the story on the news. Must have been scary. Poor Max.
Anne Zook
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I followed the story on the news. Must have been scary. Poor Max.
Anne Zook
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: 10/23/2006 12:22 PM
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