- Residents of Oahu, about 200 miles from the epicenter, reported huge tremors and shaking of buildings.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck south of Hawaii’s Big Island, shaking buildings and causing massive tremors across the state, officials say.
The earthquake occurred at an ocean depth of more than 22 miles about 1.5 miles off the coast of Kau, although the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said a tsunami is not expected.
Residents on the island of Oahu, more than 200 miles from the epicenter, reported strong shaking and some damage, although it is unclear whether the quake has caused any deaths or injuries.
The PTWC listed the intensity of the natural disaster as VI, meaning it is significant but not expected to cause catastrophic damage.
Authorities initially recorded the earthquake as having a magnitude of 6.3, but later downgraded it to 5.7, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. said in X.
About an hour after the earthquake struck Hawaii, another magnitude 4.7 earthquake was also recorded near Los Angeles, California, according to earthquaketrack.com.
The magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck 1.5 miles off the coast of Kau on the Big Island of Hawaii, and “enormous” tremors were reported on the island of Oahu, more than 200 miles away.
Stunning footage captured the moment the earthquake violently shook a house in Hawaii, prompting a man and boy to run frantically to escape.
Following the initial earthquake, six small aftershocks were reported in the Pahala area.
The extent of the damage in Hawaii is unknown, but the journalist Nick Sortor reported that locals called it “the longest and strongest earthquake they have felt in a long time.”
Plate tectonics researcher Dr. Judith Hubbard said in X that the natural disaster occurred in an area that had been “experiencing a swarm of seismicity.”
Although the magnitude of 5.7 is significant, coming close to others like the one in China in 2014 that killed 600 people, Hubbard said the earthquake “fortunately (hit) a low-density area.”
Stunning footage captured the moment the earthquake violently shook a house in Hawaii, prompting a man and boy to run frantically to escape.
The Tsunami agency classified the intensity of the natural disaster as VI, meaning it is significant, but not expected to cause catastrophic damage.
Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said he was in the middle of a cardiologist’s appointment when the earthquake hit and “suddenly I felt like I was getting dizzy.”
Witnesses said the powerful earthquake sent shock waves across the state.
“I was sitting in my truck and I thought there was something wrong with it,” said Ikaika Marzo, a Hawaii Island community leader. KTRE.
“A lot of people felt it around me.”
Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said he was in the middle of an appointment with a cardiologist when the earthquake hit.
“I suddenly felt like I was getting dizzy,” he said, joking that he initially thought he was feeling the effects of a procedure.
“We’ll probably start hearing about damage in the next hour or hour,” he said shortly after the earthquake hit at 10 a.m. local time.
Alia Zannoni, an employee at International Marketplace, said she saw computer screens and images shaking.
“We didn’t know what to do, so we sat on the doors,” he said. “My family on Kauai said they felt it too.”