Earthquake hits Hawaii

From recovering from a surprise lake-snow-effect snowstorm to all my friends in the Hawaiian islands - hope all is well and safe on your side.

L - I know that you're in LA, but glad to know that everyone back on Oahu is okay and especially your mom who's currently on the Big Island.

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Earthquake of Magnitude 6.5 Hits Hawaii
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 15, 2006

HONOLULU (AP) -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 struck Hawaii early Sunday morning, causing a landslide that blocked a major highway on Hawaii Island, the Pacific Tsunami Center said.

Power was out power across the state and there were unconfirmed reports of injuries, according to the State Civil Defense. Problems with communication prevented more definite reports. Gov. Linda Lingle said in a radio interview with KSSK from Hawaii Island that she had no report of any fatalities.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a preliminary magnitude of 6.3, along with several aftershocks, including one measuring a magnitude of 5.8. No damage reports were immediately available.

The quake occurred at 7:07 a.m. local time, 10 miles north-northwest of Kailua Kona, a town on the west coast of the Big Island, said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center, part of the U.S. Geological Survey.Blakeman said there was no risk of a Pacific-wide tsunami, but a possibility of significant wave activity in Hawaii.

The quake occurred about 155 miles to the southeast of Honolulu, the state capital, in Oahu. On Hawaii Island, also known as the Big Island, there was some damage in Kailua-Kona and landslide along a major highway, said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Center.

Betsy Garties, who lives in North Kohala, on the northern tip of Hawaii Island said she was lying in bed with one of her two young children when the quake struck.

"First I heard a rumbling. Then the house started to shake. Then broken glass," Garties said. She first stood under a door frame as safety experts advise, then found that too wobbly for comfort and ran into the yard.

"It was strong enough that it was wobbling, so you almost lost your balance running out into the yard," Garties said. "The house was visibly rocking."

Power at least partially knocked out on every island, said Civil Defense spokesman Lani Goldman. On Oahu, 95 percent of customers were without power, he said. Authorities said some of the power outages may have been due to heavy rainfall.