Hawaii quake causes havoc on Big Island's west coast

**ZeoBandit** · 10.15.06, 01:58 PM

Hawaii quake causes havoc on Big Island's west coast
POSTED: 4:43 p.m. EDT, October 15, 2006

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

The state Civil Defense had unconfirmed reports of injuries, but communication problems prevented more definite reports. People also were trapped in elevators on the island of Oahu, authorities said.

Gov. Linda Lingle said in a radio interview with KSSK from Hawaii Island, also known as the Big Island, that she had no report of any fatalities. She said boulders fell on highways, rock walls fell down and televisions had been knocked off of stands. (Watch how quake is affecting Big Island, Oahu -- 5:32 Video)

She had no reports of building damage.

The quake occurred at 7:07 a.m. local time (1:07 p.m. ET), 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.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.3, along with several aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 5.8.

Blakeman said there was no risk of a Pacific-wide tsunami, but there was a possibility of significant wave activity in Hawaii.

On the Big 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 were concerned there may be "structural integrity" problems at the hospital in Kona on the Big Island, Lingle said. New patients were being accepted, but kept outside.

Betsy Garties, who lives in North Kohala, on the northern tip of the Big 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."

Peggy Cardoza, an assistant manager at a fast food restaurant in Hilo, said she was at work when the earthquake struck.

"We just felt the ground shaking," Cardoza said. "We just stood here and watched everything shake."

Power was at least partially knocked out on every island, said Civil Defense spokesman Lani Goldman. On Oahu, the most populated island, 95 percent of customers were without power, he said.

Authorities said some of the power outages may have been due to heavy rainfall.