Living on an island composed of five volcanoes, only one of which is officially extinct, it's hardly surprising that we get earthquakes semi-regularly. Usually, however, these earthquakes are too small to be felt, or happen far enough away not to be noticed (by people).
However, this morning at 10:47 there was a magnitude 4.4 earthquake about 13 miles north by northwest of Hilo that I very definitely felt.
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| It's the red one. |
I was sitting at my computer when I felt a huge
jolt from the north-west. It was strong enough to move my (wheeled) chair, though not strong enough to have actually caused any damage. It was accompanied by a low, dull sort of booming noise. It all happened so fast, though, that I didn't realize what had happened for a few seconds. Thankfully it wasn't strong enough to cause any real damage, and there haven't been any aftershocks since.
As I think I've said before, life's never dull when you live on an active volcano in the middle of the ocean!
(If you're waiting for my promised post about supernovae, fear not, it's still in the process of being written. I just wanted to write something about the earthquake while it was still fresh.)
Which one is extinct? I always thought it was Mauna Kea, but I have no idea about Hualalai and that other one I always forget about.
ReplyDeleteSounds exciting, anyway!
From oldest to youngest, the five volcanoes are Kohala, Mauna Kea, Hualālai, Mauna Loa, and Kīlauea. Kohala is the extinct volcano. Mauna Kea is technically dormant, although it's not expected to erupt again for thousands of years, if ever. Hualālai is also dormant (but active as recently as 1800-01), while Mauna Loa and Kīlauea are both active.
ReplyDeleteI missed it! I was asleep!
ReplyDeleteRock-a-bye baby... Heh.