Earthquake!

After living in California for 6 years, I consciously had never felt an earthquake. I don't want to say that I felt that I missed out on that experience, but it's interesting that I only felt my first one a little over a month ago here in Hawaii. I think it was a small one and caused nothing more than the windows to rattle. At the time, I actually thought that a bird had flown into my window. But I suppose it should be no surprise that earthquakes occur frequently Hawaii, albeit with a magnitude that usually is not felt by humans, since we are near a fault line and have hot spots with active volcanoes both above and below sea level.

On 10/15 at 0711 Hawaiian Standard Time, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck. I was sleeping in bed when the rumbling woke me up. It felt like being in one of those massaging beds. My wall pictures were creaking on their hinges. I immediately thought "earthquake!" and jumped out of bed to stand under my doorway as was taught to me back in Cali (note: most of the people I talked to and who were interviewed lay in bed the whole time!). But I couldn't see with my bad eyesight, so I ran to get my glasses from my dressor and by then the rumbling stopped (I guess that wasn't the smartest thing to do in retrospect). Overall, the earthquake probably lasted anywhere between 10-20 seconds.

I turned on the TV, and the usual programs were going on. Not noticing any damage, I thought the earthquake minor and flopped back onto bed. I definitely felt the 6.0 aftershock a couple of minutes later and then we lost power. For some reason, the entire island of Oahu experienced a black-out and was the last to regain electrical power even though islands closer to the epicenter had their power restored more quickly.

Thank goodness for the radio which was our only means of learning what was going on. My dad actually went to deliver a wreath for a funeral that day which he later learned was cancelled as it was announced on the radio. It seems ridiculous, but Oahu didn't experience much damage. I think only several homes had some damage, but the roads were intact, and there weren't any fatalities or major injuries.

Since the epicenter was located around 20 miles from the Big Island of Hawaii, it understandably had the most damage. It's amazing that with quakes of such magnitude that there wasn't more damage to property and life. The Big Island is generally rural. Also, if an earthquake had to hit, it hit at the perfect time when most people were at home and when there was some light already in the sky.


On the Big Island


On the Big Island


Bridge on the Big Island

As for me, the day was spent studying (woohoo); I actually got a lot done, considering there was no internet or TV. Thank goodness my Nintendo DS was charged, and I played some Cooking Mama. :) Unfortunately, we did not have any gas stoves or heating plates, so for lunch, I ate bread, chips, and a cookie. For dinner, my parents and I would have had canned tuna on chips if not for some family friends down the street who had a gas stove and cooked us a feast with salad, shoyu chicken, sashimi, unagi, rice, and coffee ice-cream. We definitely will invest in one of those gas hot plates: I highly recommend one! I then came home and studied by flashlight. The power did not end up coming back on until after 11 P.M. that night.


Power slowly coming back on


These tourists have the right idea! At least, the weather is nice
and not freezing like in New York

It definitely was an experience to remember, and thank goodness no one was seriously hurt. Happy Belated Birthday to Dean (a.k.a Pansies in fantasy football) whose birthday was on the same day. Thanks to all of you who were concerned about me and my family!

Aiya, now the Big Island is experiencing flash floods.