A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck about seven miles east-southeast of Honaunau in the South Kona area of Hawaii Island at 9:46 p.m. Friday, violently shaking houses and throwing kitchenware across floors, resident Lacy Deniz said.
"It was quite terrifying. It was very violent," Deniz said. "Our house was literally shaking from side to side, and I think the scary part was the duration too. It lasted for quite a long time." She described glass falling from cabinets and a frantic effort to shield her crawling child: "Thank goodness my mom was here" and "My son was crawling on the floor, so my mom had to stand over my son and shield him because all the glass was coming out of the cabinets and falling on the floor. So she literally was getting hit by all of our dishes and trying to protect my son."
The earthquake’s epicenter was about 3.7 miles east-southeast of the Honaunau-Napoopoo area along the western flank of Mauna Loa and some 14 miles beneath the surface. A second magnitude 3.2 tremor followed six minutes later just to the northwest of the first, about 13 miles deep, and several smaller aftershocks have since been recorded.
The scale of the event showed quickly. The USGS website had more than 2,500 felt reports by 11 p.m. Friday and that number rose to more than 5,800 by 2 a.m. Saturday. Strong shaking was reported across the state — as far away as Omao and Hanalei on Kauai, and on Oahu in Kailua, Ewa Beach and Kapolei — and media outlets on Maui received calls from Makawao and Wailuku.
Damage on Hawaii Island included more than two dozen residences and at least 28 houses reported damaged to county officials. A post-and-pier home in South Kona collapsed and was judged unlivable because of extensive foundation damage; the American Red Cross was assisting the renters who lived there. Randy Morris described how his daughter’s post-and-pier-type home in Kaohe fell off its foundation and said of the initial shock, "It felt like a bomb went off." He added that a house next door shifted about 3 feet. The quake also tilted and toppled furnishings in other homes — "Everything is on the floor. Glass is broken, all of our cabinets are open, our toilet cracked, armoire with our clothes, shelves, drawers, it just, it’s on its side and just toppled over," Deniz said.
Infrastructure felt the hit. Hawaiian Electric reported about 1,000 customers lost power during the quake. The shaking triggered rockslides along Highway 11, Napoopoo Road and Milolii Road; county crews cleared debris and reopened all roadways by 6 a.m. Saturday. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no tsunami was generated by the earthquake.
Seismic monitors tallied aftershocks through the morning: 21 aftershocks of magnitude 1.5 or larger and five aftershocks between magnitude 2.5 and 4.0 as of noon Saturday. Officials warned that more aftershocks were possible in the coming days but said they were unlikely to be large enough to be felt widely or to cause further damage.
The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the quakes were not directly related to volcanic activity. Instead, scientists said the depth, location and recorded seismic waves suggested the event was caused by stress from bending of the oceanic plate under the weight of the Hawaiian island chain along Mauna Loa’s western flank. In the last 50 years there have been 35 other earthquakes of magnitude 5 or greater within 60 miles of Friday night’s event; the most damaging in recent history was a 7.7 quake near Kalapana in November 1975 that claimed two lives, injured 28 people and caused $4.1 million in property damage.
The tension in the aftermath is practical: the state felt widespread shaking but scientists see no new volcanic threat, while hundreds of island residents cope with broken homes, temporary shelter needs and inspections. With at least one house rendered uninhabitable and dozens more damaged, local relief groups and county crews are shifting to repairs and housing support even as seismologists watch for aftershocks.
For Deniz, the immediate tally is about what survived and who is safe. "Thank goodness my mom was here," she said again, surveying a kitchen strewn with broken glass and a cracked toilet. The larger question for South Kona is whether the next days of inspections and repairs will be enough to keep families from being displaced — and whether older, post-and-pier foundations will be rebuilt to withstand the next time the island feels an earthquake now.
