Earthquake
Auntie Maria
No power on O`ahu, but I wanted to report from northshore
Kaua`i that all is fine here.
We definitely felt the quake and a couple of the smaller
rumbles though...
-- auntie maria
Gerard Fryer
At the tsunami warning center we managed to handle this one pretty
quickly because the earthquake was far enough away from HVO's best
seismometers that they didn't go off scale. We got our "no tsunami"
message out to emergency managers three minutes after the earthquake.
Such rapid response will be fine in general, but I was just a little
uneasy. Earthquakes sometimes (albeit rarely) behave in very odd ways.
If that earthquake had had slow rupture, or if it had been a multiple
event with a small initial shock merging into a larger later one, then
our decision based on only a few tens of seconds of a few seismograms
could well have been wrong. Then we might have had to scramble to tell
the counties to blow the sirens after all.
So I was anxiously watching the Big Island tide gauges when I took a
call from a lady on Kaua`i (the phones by then were ringing off the
hook; we later discovered that over 400 people had tried to call us).
What she told me was music to my ears: "We just had strong shaking on
Kaua`i."
"Strong shaking on Kaua`i" for a Big Island earthquake of less than
magnitude 7 could only mean that the earthquake was too deep to cause a
tsunami. The scattering and attenuation of seismic waves from a
shallower source would have cut down the energy so much that "strong"
would not have been an appropriate word. "Strong shaking on Kaua`i"
meant that we had called the thing correctly.
Within a year we will have installed new broadband seismometers on all
the islands. The new instruments will allow us to figure out where an
earthquake is within about 90 seconds, will let us work out depths far
more accurately, and will tell us how strong the shaking is everywhere.
But that's in the future. Yesterday, a phone call chosen at random from
among all those clamoring for attention told me what our existing
instruments could not. I wish I had written the woman's name down so I
could call her back and thank her.
Several minutes after her call (minutes that would have been precious
if there really had been a damaging tsunami), we got our proof: tsunami
waves only four inches from peak to trough rolled gently into Kawaihae
Harbor. There was no tsunami danger for anyone.
-Gerard Fryer
[Personal views only; this message should not be construed as
reflecting official NOAA policy.]
Jerry Okamura
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that "if" there was an earquake in
Hawaiian waters strong enough to create a Tsumani whatever warning we
get is
not going to be soon enough, since very few people are going to (1)
hear the
message in time, (2) react fast enough.
"Gerard Fryer" <ger...@NUTShawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1161077...@news.lava.net...
>
> On 2006-10-16 10:05:02 -1000, Auntie Maria <aun...@mele.com> said:
>
>>
John W. Bienko
Aloha Hawai`i,,
All is well that ends well.
Thanks to Gerard, Alvin, Beans, Maren and others for
keeping us up to date re the developments in Hawai`i.
I hope to visit Oahu soon.. to swim in Waikiki
and sail from the Ala Wai.. visit the University of Hawai`i..
and soak in the restorative environmwent.
Alvin E. Toda
A friend told me that it was hardly anything. But that
was like Oahu to me. But I was in the California
earthquake where the books dropped from my book cases.
So being "deep" meant that the separation between Oahu
and Kauai was not as significant as the depth of the
quake?
But is it often that a shallow quake is a "slow
rupture" or that a later quake even of a multiple event
might be larger? Is it possible to determine the depth
of the quake by triangulation?
Alvin E. Toda
Yes, the weather's cooling off. Should be nicer in a
month or two. Have a good trip....
Rik Brown
On the mainland, we heard very little about the earthquake back in
October after the first few days. And, I've seen very little in this
newsgroup. So was the overall damage rather minimal and are all things
are pretty well back to normal?
Howzit?
Regards. -- Rik
--
Rik Brown
Andy
If you want to follow the news, you should read the online versions of
the Big Island newspapers. The last number that was mentioned was $200
milliion in damages. Apparently there are houses in north Kohala that
are severely damaged, but the occupants don't want to report it the
government, lest they get red-tagged.
Jerry Okamura
That is because when all is said and done, it was a minor event. It did not
cause a whole lot of damage.
"Rik Brown" <Rik.Brow...@no-mx.forums.travel.com> wrote in message
news:1163043...@news.lava.net...
Scott W
Rik Brown wrote:
> On the mainland, we heard very little about the earthquake back in
> October after the first few days. And, I've seen very little in this
> newsgroup. So was the overall damage rather minimal and are all things
> are pretty well back to normal?
In Kona things were pretty much back to normal the next day, we as
normal as
it ever is around iron man time.
Scott
Nai`a
Rik Brown wrote:
> On the mainland, we heard very little about the earthquake back in
> October after the first few days. And, I've seen very little in this
> newsgroup. So was the overall damage rather minimal and are all things
> are pretty well back to normal?
Things were mostly back to normal on the day after.
Except on the Big Island in general, and the North West corner in
particular, as the Kohala Ditch was destroyed, and thus there's a
lot of land not being irrigated.
<http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/>
(General news, not the "EARTHQUAKE NEWS" icon)
<http://www.flumindaditch.com/>
(for some of the side-effects)
<http://www.flumindaditch.com/flumin/>
("404 Compliant...")
Oh yeah, the Telescopes were affected, but things are mostly back
to normal, I gather:
<http://www.keckobservatory.org/article.php?id=95>
Aloha mai Nai`a!
--
" So this is how Liberty dies ... http://www.lava.net/~mjwise/
" To Thunderous Applause.