Hawaii Checks For Infrastructure Damage
Officials Check Bridges, Roads After 6.6 Quake Causes Blackouts And Landslides
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Play CBS Video Video Hawaii Declared Disaster Zone Hawaii's strongest earthquake in nearly 20 years shook the islands early Oct. 15, waking residents from their beds. Sabrina Hall reports on the state's disaster declaration.
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Video Hawaii Official On Earthquake Rod Haraga, director of the Hawaii Department of Transportation, speaks with Julie Chen about damage caused by an earthquake over the weekend.
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Video Hawaii Regroups After Quake Hawaii is evaluating the damage after a powerful 6.7 magnitude earthquake rocked the pacific islands on Sunday. As Kim Gennaula reports, luckily no deaths have been reported.
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A resident looks at damage to Kalahikiola Congregational Church on the Big Island, Oct. 15, 2006. (AP/West Hawaii Today, M.Darden)
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Newlyweds Tony and Andrea Medaglia of San Jose, California, were among the hundreds waiting for hours at Honolulu Airport, October 15, 2006, where quake-caused power outages meant huge delays. (AP)
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Damage inside an operating room at Kona Community Hospital in Kealakekua, Hawaii, the Big Island, is shown Sunday, Oct 15, 2006, after a strong earthquake shook Hawaii. (AP)
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A vehicle drives around a boulder in the road in the Kohala district of the Big Island, Oct. 15, 2006. (AP/West Hawaii Today, M.Darden)
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The contents of kitchen cabinets and a refrigerator are spilled across a floor in a Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, kitchen after the earthquake that shook Hawaii Sunday Oct. 15, 2006. (AP)
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Photo Essay Hawaii Shaken Islands tremble as 6.6-magnitude earthquake knocks out power, causes rock slides.
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Interactive Ground Shakers Learn about what triggers an earthquake and get details on some of the world's worst.
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Interactive Natural Disasters Discover how Earth is battered from the sky by hurricanes, tornadoes and cyclones as volcanoes and earthquakes rumble from below.
Earthquakes in the 6.0 magnitude range are rare in the region, which more commonly sees temblors in the 3- and 4-magnitude range caused by volcanic activity.
"We think this is a buildup from many volcanic earthquakes that they've had on the island," said Waverly Person, a geophysicist with the USGS.
Lingle told radio station KSSK that she toured the Kona area by helicopter to view the damage, including earth falling into Kealakekua Bay.
Kona Community Hospital was evacuated after large chunks of its ceilings collapsed and power was cut off. At least 10 acute care patients were evacuated to a medical center in Hilo, and about 30 other patients were moved to a nearby conference center, said Terry Lewis, spokeswoman for the hospital.
"We were very lucky that no one got hurt," Lewis said.
County of Hawaii Mayor Harry Kim estimated that as many as 3,000 people were evacuated from three hotels on the Big Island. Brad Kurokawa, Hawaii County deputy planning director, confirmed the hotels were damaged and said people were taken to a gymnasium until other accommodations could be found.
The power outages were largely due to power plants turning off automatically when built-in seismic monitors were triggered by the quake. All electricity systems needed to be rebooted, which was expected to take several hours in more populated areas. Most of the region had electricity again Monday.
"We were totally prepared for a disaster such as this, but obviously with a disaster this big you can't be prepared for everything," Rodney Haraga, director of the Hawaii Department of Transportation, told ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday.
Hawaii's largest quake on record was an 1868 magnitude-7.9 earthquake that triggered a tsunami and spawned numerous landslides that resulted in 31 deaths, according to the USGS. The last strongest temblor was in 1983, a magnitude 6.7.
On Hawaii Island, there was some damage in Kailua-Kona and a landslide along a major highway, said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Center. Officials also said there were reports of people temporarily trapped in elevators on Oahu. Planes were arriving at Honolulu International Airport, but there were few departures.
In Waikiki on Oahu, worried visitors began lining up outside convenience stores for food, water and other supplies Sunday. Managers were letting them into the darkened stores one at a time.
Karie and Bryan Croes waited an hour to buy bottles of water, chips and bread.
"It's quite a honeymoon story," said Karie Croes, as they sat poolside, surrounded by grocery bags, at ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel.
The Big Island has about 167,000 residents, many of them in and around Hilo, on the opposite site of the island from the quake's epicenter.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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For my part, the biggest realization I had was that the CDC needs to rethink their connection to KSSK, the only radio on air after the power failed. For half an hour after the jolts I waited for any info, while a prerecorded discussion on state constitutional amendments played. I think we need something a little more professionally coordinated in the future. It was frustrating not knowing where the earthquake started, the size, chance of tsunami, etc. For half an hour, nothing....
Interesting question.
Love to see the underwater pictures to see how the fault slipped.
Sounds like sideways slippage.(is that a word?)
If it was upward or downward slippage it would have a better chance to create tsunami waves. Like the pictures show of the big one last year.
The ground lifted by 40 feet or better.
I would bet the magma will preasure it's way out in a few months or fill the new voids left by the movement.
Can't wait for the pictures to confirm if they are not too deep off the coast..
The 7 am coincidence is just that in my opinion.
Both are unrealated events.
Thankfully we have an understanding of plate tectonics. Otherwise the earth quake might be mistaken for gods wrath.
Great opportunity scientist's to get ground open fault pictures of the earth's crack. lol
2. On Hawaiian upheaval of a different sort, back in 1893, resident American businessmen took the islands from the natives by hook and crook (mostly crook). A small group of business investors, Sanford B. Dole principal-without-principle among them, led an armed insurrection against the Hawaiian royalty.
To protect the "lives and property" of these ugly Americans, the US Navy (which salivated after the islands as a strategic coaling station), landed soldiers to "de-install" the lawful authorities. Not long after that, Dole prospered by an order of magnitude, declared Hawaii a "republic" and made himself president.
By coincidence, the Navy suddenly had a new coaling station, and new naval base in planning. This shameful history is thought to be the first (excluding the brazen threats made by Dewey to Japan in 1853-54) of many "preemptive" invasions involving US armed forces.
Something tells me Sunday, 7:00am local, is somehow very unlucky in the islands, based upon a broad sample of two events-- December 7, 1941 and today.
I too hope there aren't any serious injuries or deaths resulting from the quake.
But I don't think lganso was laughing this morning. I know I am glad to hear you are ok. Hopefully no one was injured or worse.