Centered 17 miles of the Big Island's Kona Coast, power has just been restored in Lahaina! Governor Lingle is staying on the Kohala Coast, and reported TV's falling off the shelves! No tsunami generated. Hilo side had no power outages. Maui was rocking!

6.3 according to USGS, but still "breaking" news.

What did you feel?

6.3 according to USGS, but still "breaking" news.

What did you feel?
The house was doing the hula, brah!
Airports are open for arrivals only. There are no departures yet from any state airport. Widespread road damage on the Kona coast.

Here's to hoping that our other Hawai'i-based FlyerTalkers are doing fine.

There is local coverage (KITV) available being streamed on CNN for those wanting to follow.

Our prayers are for the residents of Waimea/Waikoloa Big Island. Houses reported shaken off their foundations, and major road damage. OGG has just resumed outbound traffic. LNY and MKK are fully operational.

Was Kauai affected by this? Or are they still operating normally?

I just saw that was an earthquake this morning in Hawaii - fortunately, there have been no casualties. Anyone planning on heading that way soon? I'm going in a couple weeks and wonder if AA will let people reschedule their flights.

I think it will depend on the damage. It looks like there was some damage in the Kona area, and I heard some reports on Oahu as well. I am scheduled to go to Lihue in a couple of weeks and hope everything is ok.

If it isn't safe, they won't go. It is that simple.

Perhaps you could wait just a little to discover how severe the quake was :rolleyes:

Added to fact that the area affected other, than power cuts, was near Kona.

We had an earthquake magnitude 4.0 of the coast Florida a few months ago and I dont recall AA modifying their sked. :)

mike

Was Kauai affected by this? Or are they still operating normally?

I am getting married in Kauai with 60 guests arriving this Saturday. Just talked to the Princeville resort operator and she said they felt it but otherwise everything is fine there.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

From local reports, Kauai is okay and they have power.

There is a report of another earthquake of 4.3. Also, the Kona Walmart has structural damage, but they ceiling did not collapse.

The Transportation Dept is reporting that the flights that took off are flights that were originally scheduled around the time of the earthquake. Those people had already gone through security. They are asking people not to go to the airport if they have a flight later today. There is no power at the security checkpoints and TSA can't hand search so many people.

The governor just reported a state of emergency status for our state.

TF

See Travel&Dining/Newstand forum with excellent info. Note also the way to track flights on flightaware.com if you have that concern.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=613047

Some damage at the Hilton Waikoloa -- as might be expected, given that the northwest Hawaii coast seems to have been the epicenter. An eyewitness said it looked "superficial," but I wouldn't trust this as the definitive word.

When was the last major earthquake in Hawaii?

It seems like it's been quite a year for natural disasters in Hawaii.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061015/D8KP9R980.html

From the media reports, it sounds like just about everyone is safe, which is obviously the most important thing.

KITV (via CNN) is reporting that airports are closed, including Honolulu.

I have felt the earth Hula on at least 3 different occasions, the last about 8 years ago, with and without aftershocks. This was by far the strongest.

I have felt the earth Hula on at least 3 different occasions, the last about 8 years ago, with and without aftershocks. This was by far the strongest.

According to this gov't site, they're common on the Big Island (as would be expected given the volcanic activity) -- but I guess they're usually too small to notice.

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/earthquakes/

I'm sure many of you know much more about this than I do, but off the top of my head, I can't recall ever reading or hearing about earthquakes in Hawaii. It's the rare tsunami, hurricane or lava flow that seem to get the attention.

I live on Maui and we just got our utilities back (Power/Water/Cable) a short time ago. I have a couple things to share, at least relevant to this forum:

* The initial quake was 6.3-6.5 on the Richter Scale, considered "strong" (can be destructive in areas up to about 100 miles across in populated areas). The comparison to the post above with a 4 on the Richter Scale is considered "light", with some shaking. There was very violent shaking on Maui.

* The Governor has declared the state as a disaster area, although I stress that there is not a lot of damage on most islands.

* Aside from the Big Island of Hawaii, there was generally very little (if any) structural damage to buildings. On the Big Island, some homes and business have moderate to severe damage. A hospital in Kona has been severely damaged and has since been evacuated.

* Power here on West Maui, and power on the Island of Kauai has been restored. Water is running on gravity only, and once reservoirs are depleted, the system will go offline until the electricity comes back on where the pumping stations are.

* No tsunami alert has been issued.

* Where electricity has not been restored, hotels are running on auxiliary/generator power.

* All airports are currently closed to outgoing traffic. Flights already in the air will be allowed to land at the airport they are scheduled to. Honolulu International will be open shortly, while Lihue airport is currently open. Kahalui Airport is currently closed, but should open soon. All other airports are expected to open sometime today, but there is no ETA. United has canceled some flights, but AA still is showing on-time for all flights.

* People are generally calm.

If there are any questions, I'll try to answer those as best I can.

I'm sure many of you know much more about this than I do, but off the top of my head, I can't recall ever reading or hearing about earthquakes in Hawaii.
Aloha, iahpx! I guess you have now! Waikiki is still without power right now! HNL remains closed to departures because TSA cannot screen the masses w/o electricity!

A rep from HECO in a phone interview with KITV just noted that they're in the process of restarting the generators at the powerplants on 'Oahu. Some customers should start receiving power later this afternoon, with the hope and intention that by the evening most, if not all of the island should have power.

Anyone heard anything about the condition of the Orchid Hotel?

This thread is not AA-specific, and belongs in the Hawai'i Forum. Mahalo for your understanding.

Friends in Hawai'i, FT members are hoping you are all well and Pele is resting again.

Probably "minor structural damage" as Governor Lingle just announced for all the resorts around KOA. No serious injuries, no serious damage. Some roads are damaged in that area, and traffic is restricted.

[QUOTE=railroadtycoon]6.3 according to USGS, but still "breaking" news./QUOTE]
See thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=613047 also.

* The initial quake was 6.3-6.5 on the Richter Scale, considered "strong" (can be destructive in areas up to about 100 miles across in populated areas). The comparison to the post above with a 4 on the Richter Scale is considered "light", with some shaking. There was very violent shaking on Maui.

I am glad you pointed out that a 4 is VERY different from a 6.3-6.5!

I am also glad that you and your family are safe!

Just some added informaiton, my family lives along the Kohala coast and are OK. But they did tell us that some houses have been shaken off their foundations. My cousins floor to ceiling windows blew out. But everyone is OK and that is the most important thing!

We just left Hapuna Beach Prince yesterday at 11AM. Glad we didnt stay the extra day. Hope a buildings are back to 100% before december when we go back.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2006/10/15/local_news/local01.txt

(use flyertalk.com and flyertalk for username/password)

Power did go out north of Hilo and up the Hamakua coast for several hours.

No damage to my home, but some glass breakage, etc.

I think as communications get restored, I fear that there may be some worse injuries discovered.

Per someone's question upstream, the Big Island gets dozens of small earthquakes a month. Most are imperceptible. I don't have time to Google this right now but the last two major earthquakes on the Big Island was one in the Ka'u district that caused a local tsunami killing some folks who were camping at the beachside park, and a major earthquake in the '70s near Honomu.

Some scientific information on why there are earthquakes in Hawai`i:

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/earthquakes/

The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting structural damage to the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and the "Munakea" Beach Hotel, which I assume is intended to read the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Oct/15/br/br5637098421.html

URL may be hard to reach. I hope the damage is not as severe as "closed indefinitely" implies. I assume this just means that they will not reopen until they can be fully assessed. I absolutely loved the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.

The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting structural damage to the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and the "Munakea" Beach Hotel, which I assume is intended to read the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Oct/15/br/br5637098421.html

URL may be hard to reach. I hope the damage is not as severe as "closed indefinitely" implies. I assume this just means that they will not reopen until they can be fully assessed. I absolutely loved the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
I hope its just temporary. I have attained and kept my Ilima status with prince preferred just from staying at the hapuna.

Does anyone have any info on the Kona Village Resort?

Glad to see cblaisd has checked in. ^

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

HNL is not closed. Many flights are cancelled, bit many are still going. Hawaiian says that they are operating their interisland and west coast flights. Most UA, AA,NW, and JAL flights are cancelled.

Power is still out in most parts of Oahu and it's starting to get dark.

TF

Do you know what parts of 'Oahu, if any, have had their power restored? It must be getting dark out there; and if the power still hasn't returned to a large portion of the island, it will be a very long night for some.

The Honolulu Advertiser has been doing a good job of posting updated information.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

I'm so happy I made sure my mom had a hand crank radio and at least one phone handset that doesn't rely on AC power. I still remember the rolling blackouts after Hurricane Iwa...

I watched some of the live TV feed -- that few Hawaiians probably got to see because of the power outage.

http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/video/4324656/index.html

For visitors, as might be expected, the biggest problems (other than temporary airline cancellations) are likely to be for those headed to the Kona coast in the next few weeks. I also heard that the "road to Hana" was blocked. The good thing, I suppose, is that this is probably as "off peak" as you get in the Hawaiian tourist calendar.

BTW, I didn't find a lot about Hawaiian earthquakes, but there's an interesting discussion of Hawaiian tsunamis on this museum website. It's obviously a very good thing that this offshore quake was just a little too weak to trigger a tsunami.

http://www.tsunami.org/faq.htm#destructive

Yeah, my power is back in Kaimuki just before it turned pitch black. HECO is reporting that about 35% of Oahu has its power back on. I think they said Aiea, Wahiawa, HNL airport area, and Pearl Harbor. We can see that St Louis Heights. Palolo Valley, Manoa and Kaimuki have power. Of course, this doesn't mean that all power is restored to the above areas. We have power and the houses down the street don't since they must be on another power grid.

Checked our fridge and the temperature is still below 40 degrees and the stuff in the freezer is still frozen. I'm glad I don't have to throw out a lot of food.

Our emergency radio and flashlights came in handy today. The radio has the option of batteries, solar power or hand crank. I saw something similar at Costco last week. I'd suggest everyone pick up one because it was a lifesave for us today.

The best part of the power coming on is being able to type on my laptop instead of the Blackberry.


TF :cool:

I am glad you pointed out that a 4 is VERY different from a 6.3-6.5!


It may be worth noting that the Richter scale is logarithmic meaning that a 5 is 10 times stronger that a 4, a 6 is 100 times stronger than a 4, etc. This was definitely a powerful quake.

As of 19:30 HST, how are the communications systems? Early on the landline service was reported as spotty due to congestion, but hopefully as the day has passed and evening has settled people are doing better and the landline system has returned to some sense of normal. How has the cellular service held up throughout the entire day?

On Oahu, we didn't have any problem with our landlines. Luckily, we have some non-cordless phone units in our house that we could use. Many people were having problems because they don't have any of the "old" style phones anymore.

The cellular lines were plugged up though especially the T-Mobile ones. The civil defense, police and governor were urging people not to use their cell phones unless it was necessary to reduce the congestion.

My Blackberry on T-Mobile worked fine for e-mail, SMS and web surfing, but I did have problems calling out due to congestion.

TF :cool:

The USGS is reporting that it was a 6.6 magnitude quake. I was awakened this morning at home in Kahala at approximately 7:10 a.m. No ground shaking, although the walls and doors were rattling for a good 20 seconds. Several minutes later, the second quake hit which was less powerful and shorter in duration.

Power was out for about 11 hours - restored at about 6:00 p.m. Water pressure is still a bit weak - Honolulu Board of Water Supply said that pumping stations, which rely on generators, will begin replenishing reservoirs which should restore water pressure. Water conservation is still being urged during the interim.

All major carriers have cancelled flights from Hawaii to the mainland today and will resume service tomorrow. JAL flights, packed with tour groups anxious to return to Japan, are still departing this evening - handwritten boarding passes are being used.

Wishing everyone affected a safe night, and a return to normal ASAP! ^ Good night!

A bit late, but interesting none-the-less..

When you move to Paradise, you take the good with the bad.

Tourists only see the side of things as people wait on them. Life is rosy and they have little thought about what goes on behind the scenes. Tourists will remember this as sitting in an airport grumbling that the toilets don't work. It could have been a lot worse.

In Hawaii we are blessed with (mostly) lush green tropical plants. Nearby that lushness on my island is black rock, recent lava from the volcano. The Big Island is a mixture of contrasts. The green plants are fed on rains; sometimes torrential rains which we get. We are blessed with beautifully tropical weather at sea level. Still, it is possible to get frostbite or be caught in a blizzard just 45 miles inland. How? Well there is this giant mountain in out backyard that rises from the ocean to 14,000 feet in a mere 45 miles. The top of which has many observatories and the occasional snow cover.

The mountains (Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa) also extend another 14,000 feet or so down to the ocean floor. That is a lot of rock. Imagine a cone of rock 28,000 feet tall. It all came from volcanic action, hot rock oozing out of a fissure in the ocean floor and slowly building up this chain of islands. Some islands barely extend above the water.

So this "Big Island" called Hawaii is a gigantic pile of rock, all pushing downward. It is not unusual for it to settle a bit; sometimes violently! It did that at 7:07 (or so) today. The “or so” is because the clock fell off the fall.

Living on the mainland all my life, I had only once been through a quake and it was nothing. Here on Hawaii I have been through many quakes in the 3.0 or more range, but they lasted only a few seconds and were kind of fun to talk about. That was about to change.

I had been up late Saturday night because I was working on financial reports and QuickBooks. I awoke from a sound sleep to a rolling that I knew was an earthquake. Other quakes would shake a bit and were done but this one was different. It seemed to be increasing in intensity. In fact, it was so strong that I decided to get out of bed and leave the house, even thought I was not fully dressed. It was a wise decision. I grabbed the cell phone and headed out.

I could tell this was a big quake and was scared and did not pass this off as a “fun” one. My house sits on posts and it sways just a bit in heavy wind. This was different because cabinets were opening; things were dropping on the floor. The event lasted perhaps 20 seconds or more; I don’t know. It is hard to gauge that but it seemed to go on forever.

My first thought was to get on the phone to friends and neighbors, especially to see if they were all right. We laughed a bit but you could hear the trembling in all of our voices. We knew this was big and I wanted to get more information. I came inside and found I still had Internet. I tried to get to the Earthquake reporting site, but it was slow to at a dead stop. Then the Internet and phone went out. Cell phone calls were blocked, as I believe visitors began making calls home to the mainland.

About 7 minutes after the 6.6 quake was an aftershock or another quake, this one just a mere 5.8! I again left the house in haste! I called a friend in Florida who was able to pass information back to me about the quakes. Our local radio stations were off the air because they lost power. Then my power went off.

I received a couple of phone calls, one from the mainland and another from a friend on the island. We chatted for a few minutes and I began checking for structural problems around the house. I saw no damage that has not been here since I bought the house, but I will take a better look over the next day or so.

I heard that you could see a cloud of dust from Kealakekua Bay. It appears some of the cliff collapsed and rocks rolled down into the ocean. Coast Guard helicopters appeared to look for injuries (perhaps in the Bay which is a popular snorkeling area near the Captain Cook Monument).

I decided to drive into Kona. If anyone needed help I had a 4-wheel drive vehicle. As I went I noticed there was little traffic. It was Sunday morning, a normally slow time for traffic but it could also be due to rocks blocking the main road. We often have small rockslides that close roads for short periods. Rockslides are common. I passed a hitchhiker and gave him a ride. He was on his way into Kona because he had nothing to do at home. Having been on the island just 9 months, he thought the quake a pretty neat. Hmmmm J

Along the 20-minute drive I saw no major damage, but I did see many rock walls had collapsed. Where the road was cut through rock, oftentimes there were rocks strewn around, some of the quite large. You have to be careful driving as you might round a corner and see rocks in the road. If possible, local motorists stop and move them out of the way.

Kona town had spotty power; some places lit and others dark. Many stores were closed and most would not open for business.

I dropped my passenger off at the far end of Kona and headed down to visit friends. One friend is a resident manager for a condo. He had structural damage and a broken air conditioner cooling line. I drove him to Lowe’s to get batteries and a bulb for his flashlight. We passed Wal-Mart and noticed they had blocked the entrance to the parking lot with shopping carts. I hear they lost part of their roof. Lowe’s looked like they were running on emergency power, had all but one door closed and there appeared to be a lone guy checking out what few customers were there. We all chatted about the quakes and he continued to check us out, while showing our standard Aloha.

I dropped off my friend and continued on to the next set of condos. There they had a few problems but less structural damage. There was an elevator broken and that caused problems later for a man in a wheel chair and the maids who needed to get their carts up to clean rooms. The Manager also told me that he needs to replace 4 to 6 TV’s which walked off of the tables and cracked open on the tile floors. A few sliding doors were off their rollers and glassware littered some kitchens.

CNN was using a feed from KITV television in Honolulu and I was able to see photos from this and other islands. There was no looting and people casually waited in line outside waiting for a few stores to open. Many of them related where they were and what damage they had.

Many islands had lost power and I began to understand how powerful these quakes were. During previous level 3 quakes on my island, you rarely hear that people on the other islands felt it. A level 6 quake is many times more powerful than a 3.

You probably have heard more information about the quakes that I did but please keep this in mind. Hawaii and the other islands did NOT drop into the ocean, the volcano did NOT blow its top and there appear to be no casualties! Information is always speculative during the first few hours of a disaster (and this has been classified as a disaster; probably so we can get Federal Aid and use the local military to help us).

The Governor was in town and in fact was right near the epicenter of one of the quakes. She had arrived last night and was scheduled to be in a political forum this afternoon. It was cancelled primarily because of the quake but also because many of the radio stations, which would carry the thing, were off the air. Most people still stayed home as per the Civil Defense request.

A hospital needed to be evacuated and damage was significant. Some people were airlifted to other hospitals. Some roads were impassable and lots of people had frayed nerves. Many people lost power for minutes to hours and 100,000 people on Oahu still are without power 15 hours later. Thousands of frustrated visitors were stuck in airports as many flights were cancelled. Those flights should be resumed in the morning.

I have to say that for an emergency like this, we handled it well and we were lucky. There was little major damage. I saw no houses flattened although there may be lots of hidden problems. Many of the buildings will need to be inspected. Some visitors had a horrible vacation and yet life goes on. Surfers were out surfing, Ironman participants were running and cycling in preparation for the upcoming race. In hindsight, the race was originally scheduled for yesterday had already been rescheduled a year ago. Had this race been scheduled for today, I can guarantee that it would have been stopped in mid race!

We did our best to show aloha in the face of disaster. It was a disaster, but if you have to have a disaster, Paradise is the best place to have one!

And life goes on!

--

Footnote: These blog entries are often written at one sitting and with little proofreading. They may start off in one direction and make turns along the way (course corrections?). If the posting seems a bit rambling, understand that my thought processes wander more than it appears in my writings :-)

Saw this media summary of "earthquakes in Hawaii." Major quakes are indeed rare, but not unprecedented.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/15/D8KPD2200.html

Lavarock,

Good to hear all is OK. I have a friend who lives in Captain Cook and works at Kona Village Resort. I haven't heard from her yet, but from the reports, I'm hopeful that everything is OK. I'm less confident about the Kona Village Resort. I'm curious how the "primative" hales survived so close to the epicenter.

Lavarock,

Good to hear all is OK. I have a friend who lives in Captain Cook and works at Kona Village Resort. I haven't heard from her yet, but from the reports, I'm hopeful that everything is OK. I'm less confident about the Kona Village Resort. I'm curious how the "primative" hales survived so close to the epicenter.

Thanks.

I have heard nothing about KVR and I'm sure they are fine. The Maunilani Resort was evacuated (that is where the Governor was) because of a gas leak. Other than that the rest of the resorts were fine.

We have not heard of any fatalities and last I heard, no major accidents or injuries.

During the event we had problems getting cell calls in but could call out. I think verizon may have forwarded all mainland inbound calls to voicemail. I dunno.

This is my first time checking in since the power went out yesterday morning. Our power here in Nuuanu finally went back on at roughly 8:30 p.m. last night, which meant slim pickins for dinner. You'd be amazed at how quickly a major metropolis like Honolulu shuts down when there's no power (I can see how devastating the NYC blackout must have been for NYC residents).

Road Runner hadn't restored power by 2 a.m. last night, which is why I'm checking in now. Flights, visible from my lanai, are taking off as normal. Funny thing was, all throughout yesterday, I could see Hawaiian and Aloha jets taking off normally, and with binoculars, HNL's main terminal is visible from my lanai, a barrage of jets piling up at the HNL terminal (flights allowed to arrive, but TSA can't work, so no departures). I wonder what the feeling must have been to deplane at HNL using stars.

Things seem back to normal now, but the large question looming over my head is why in the world HECO (Hawaiian Electric Company) took so long to restore power to the Island. :mad:

I'm just now getting caught up on the news as I try to get myself up. Here are some excerpts from the Honolulu Advertiser article in regards to this geological incident:
By 10 p.m., a slight majority of Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc.'s 291,000 customers — 157,000 — had power restored.

Until 6:15 p.m., Honolulu International Airport survived on emergency generator power.

Several flights out of Maui, the Big Island and O'ahu were disrupted or canceled. Thousands of passengers stood in long lines because some security checkpoints lacked power and Ho-nolulu International Airport's agricultural inspection system suddenly had to rely on dogs.

Electrically powered jetways could not be used in Honolulu, so passengers had to climb up stairs to board their flights.

The most serious injury was a broken arm on the Big Island, Gov. Linda Lingle said. Big Island officials said a survey of emergency rooms showed 25 people suffered minor injuries.

Hundreds of Hawai'i families experienced something extraordinarily unusual yesterday: a quiet Sunday with conversation, board games and no television or Internet use.

Yesterday's event also shook thousands of Hawai'i residents into the realization that they had not prepared for a major earthquake and could not properly feed their families without electricity.

Lingle was in her hotel room at the Mauna Lani Resort yesterday when the quake hit.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061016/NEWS01/610160352

It is a quite long article, so please click the link above to read it in its entirety.

Some of the street lights are still not working (I say this as I hear a police officer's whistle directing traffic below).

The good thing is that power is finally restored to all of Oahu. ^

Here's also an image of blacked out Downtown Honolulu last night before power was restored: http://slippahs.smugmug.com/photos/103024325-M-0.jpg

And, great video of what happened at HNL yesterday:
http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/video/10085461/index.html

Here's the link to my report from the Hyatt board

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6540646#post6540646

All was well in Waikiki, and we got power back at 10pm. They restored building by building and there was cheering as each came back on line.

We leave for home tonight.

Special bulletin on FS Website:

An earthquake was reported on the Big Island of Hawaii. Damage has been minor and we are thankful to report that all guests and employees are safe.

Our resorts in Maui, Lana'i and Hualalai are back to full operations, and continue to receive guests as usual.

We recommend any guests due to arrive within the next 48 hours should contact their airline to ensure flights are leaving as scheduled.

Things seem back to normal now, but the large question looming over my head is why in the world HECO (Hawaiian Electric Company) took so long to restore power to the Island. :mad:

I personally think it is a ruse which will be used in a new application to the PUC for a massive rate increase "to upgrade our systems to prevent what happened from reoccuring in the future."

Lavarock,

Good to hear all is OK. I have a friend who lives in Captain Cook and works at Kona Village Resort. I haven't heard from her yet, but from the reports, I'm hopeful that everything is OK. I'm less confident about the Kona Village Resort. I'm curious how the "primative" hales survived so close to the epicenter.

Me too - hope the hales on stilts are ok and so glad to hear no one killed.

I personally think it is a ruse which will be used in a new application to the PUC for a massive rate increase "to upgrade our systems to prevent what happened from reoccuring in the future."I agree something seems phony about HECO's explanation.

They said that even though the earthquake brought down only 12% of their generating capacity, they had to black out the entire island because the remaining generators could not compensate for the 12% loss. I smell BS or serious incompetence or a serious design mistake.

They should have had a system in place that would only black-out a portion of the island in order to save the rest of the island from a 12 hour outage.

I agree something seems phony about HECO's explanation.

They said that even though the earthquake brought down only 12% of their generating capacity, they had to black out the entire island because the remaining generators could not compensate for the 12% loss. I smell BS or serious incompetence or a serious design mistake.

They should have had a system in place that would only black-out a portion of the island in order to save the rest of the island from a 12 hour outage.
Perhaps you'd be interested in reading this article:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Oct/16/br/br8341057269.html

They should have had a system in place that would only black-out a portion of the island in order to save the rest of the island from a 12 hour outage.

Don't hold your breath on this! Hawaiian Electric never seems to learn its lessons even after the past 25 years. After Hurricane Iwa in 1982 we had rolling blackouts for a few days. In 1991 a fallen tree caused a island wide blackout for many hours. (Don't know what happened when Hurricane Iniki hit as I was off island.) And there might have been one more major blackout during this period where they could never find the cause.

As FTraveler says, Hawaiian Electric will say it needs more money to upgrade it's systems. :( :rolleyes: :mad:

The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting structural damage to the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and the "Munakea" Beach Hotel, which I assume is intended to read the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Oct/15/br/br5637098421.html

URL may be hard to reach. I hope the damage is not as severe as "closed indefinitely" implies. I assume this just means that they will not reopen until they can be fully assessed. I absolutely loved the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.


We have reservations in late Nov / early Dec. There was nothing on the Hapuna Prince website yesterday so I called. Reservations agent said they are assessing at both Mauna Kea and Hapuna Prince and should know in the next day or so.

The Hapuna Prince website now says:
"Important Notice Regarding Earthquake News
Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel are currently open and operational for in-house guests only at this time. Over the next 24 hours we will be assessing the situation and will determine the status of future reservations."


Their is no such notice on the Mauna Kea website (that I could find).

We shall see.

Special bulletin on FS Website:


Obscure,

Thanks! We are leaving for the FS Hualalai on Saturday, and I am glad to hear that things on the Kona side are getting somewhat back to normal.

I think the only thing that may affect our vacation is that the DW had her heart set on swimming with the dolphins at the Hilton Waikoloa. I suspect that may need to be cancelled.

I got an email from KVR saying that they are fully operational and accepting guests. In fact, since they have their own power plant on site, they never lost power and ended up offering hot meals for the guests of the Four Seasons next door.

We have reservations in late Nov / early Dec. There was nothing on the Hapuna Prince website yesterday so I called. Reservations agent said they are assessing at both Mauna Kea and Hapuna Prince and should know in the next day or so.

The Hapuna Prince website now says:
"Important Notice Regarding Earthquake News
Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel are currently open and operational for in-house guests only at this time. Over the next 24 hours we will be assessing the situation and will determine the status of future reservations."


Their is no such notice on the Mauna Kea website (that I could find).

We shall see.
Just noticed this also, Im hoping what ever issues there having are resolved quickly as we have our rooms set for dec 20-29 and it just wouldnt be a hawaii trip sans Hapuna.

I got an email from KVR saying that they are fully operational and accepting guests. In fact, since they have their own power plant on site, they never lost power and ended up offering hot meals for the guests of the Four Seasons next door.

Thanks for the KVR update. I have a special place in my heart for Kona Village and happy to know that it is alive and well.

I got an email from KVR saying that they are fully operational and accepting guests. In fact, since they have their own power plant on site, they never lost power and ended up offering hot meals for the guests of the Four Seasons next door.

Good for them! That's actually pretty amusing, considering I get the feeling the 4 SSNS staff look down their noses at KVR - they just don't get it!!

I guess it's still rumbling, the www.honoluluadvertiser.com reports two much, much smaller quakes this am to the NW of the Big Island, one a 4.3 or so.

Rather than post a new message, I thought I would just tag onto this one.

We found great video on one of the security camera at the Kona Reef Resort just as the quake hit.

Note the guys in the upper left jump from their beds and out the door...

However, the maintenance man is pretty casual in the lower right at the end of the video.

NOTE: Video is now gone!

We have reservations in late Nov / early Dec. There was nothing on the Hapuna Prince website yesterday so I called. Reservations agent said they are assessing at both Mauna Kea and Hapuna Prince and should know in the next day or so.

The Hapuna Prince website now says:
"Important Notice Regarding Earthquake News
Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel are currently open and operational for in-house guests only at this time. Over the next 24 hours we will be assessing the situation and will determine the status of future reservations."


Their is no such notice on the Mauna Kea website (that I could find).

We shall see.


The same message is still on the website. I called and they told me they would honor all reservations already made at both hotels, but would not take new reservations. And then the gentleman stated that "the problems are primarily at the Mauna Kea" and that "the Hapuna is virtaully unaffected".

Certainly not the definitive word on anything, but encouraging for those of us that already have reservations.

Just an fyi, while there were (amazingly and thankfully) no fatalities or serious injuries from the quake (which may have the effect of causing some of the media to not cover the story as much), there is yet serious, serious damage to many folks' homes, churches, stores, etc. The Kawaihae Harbor was severely damaged. Four of our congregation's sister churches on the west side of the island have had severe damage, and many more need to be assessed by a structural engineer because of suspected damage. More than a few folks have had their homes red-tagged because they are uninhabitable, and many others have had their homes damaged to such an extent that the fixes are extraordinarily costly. It's also an island, which means it's not as easy to get some (or enough of!) the kinds of equipment that are needed to many of the homes, churches, places of business, roads, and bridges where damage is obvious or suspected.

And many of the hardest-hit places (Waimea, Waikoloa-town, Puako, Hawi/North Kohala) are where many of the service workers for the Kohala hotels live.

So while it might look like to some (and this is a general observation and certainly no "dig" at anyone!) that this ended up being an "easy" earthquake, it was not.

The locals will continue to need lots of assistance (the disaster declaration doesn't allow for funds to individuals, only public works type needs are to be funded) and I would urge you to consider a gift to a charity you know will get money to some of the folks -- more than a few of whom work two jobs to be able to live -- who really are hurting but who aren't terribly "visible" right now in the eye of the media. If you want any suggestions for such a charity, let me know privately.

Just an fyi, while there were (amazingly and thankfully) no fatalities or serious injuries from the quake (which may have the effect of causing some of the media to not cover the story as much), there is yet serious, serious damage to many folks' homes, churches, stores, etc. The Kawaihae Harbor was severely damaged. Four of our congregation's sister churches on the west side of the island have had severe damage, and many more need to be assessed by a structural engineer because of suspected damage. More than a few folks have had their homes red-tagged because they are uninhabitable, and many others have had their homes damaged to such an extent that the fixes are extraordinarily costly. It's also an island, which means it's not as easy to get some (or enough of!) the kinds of equipment that are needed to many of the homes, churches, places of business, roads, and bridges where damage is obvious or suspected.

And many of the hardest-hit places (Waimea, Waikoloa-town, Puako, Hawi/North Kohala) are where many of the service workers for the Kohala hotels live.

So while it might look like to some (and this is a general observation and certainly no "dig" at anyone!) that this ended up being an "easy" earthquake, it was not.

The locals will continue to need lots of assistance (the disaster declaration doesn't allow for funds to individuals, only public works type needs are to be funded) and I would urge you to consider a gift to a charity you know will get money to some of the folks -- more than a few of whom work two jobs to be able to live -- who really are hurting but who aren't terribly "visible" right now in the eye of the media. If you want any suggestions for such a charity, let me know privately.

Great post and makes my "is my resort still open" post seems pretty trite under the circumstances. My thoughts and prayers are with those affected.

Not trite at all. :)

Folks who live in Hawaii are delighted that folks from elsewhere want to enjoy our islands. I hope your visit is a great time.

Not trite at all. :)

Folks who live in Hawaii are delighted that folks from elsewhere want to enjoy our islands. I hope your visit is a great time.


Right! I would think the people most affected by the quake would want visitors to still come and spend money on their island. It would be much worse if an economic downturn fell on top of the quake damage.

However, I do understand that people working very hard at the resorts, and in some cases, two jobs, find it very difficult to earn a living AND fix their homes. I hope the resorts and hotels are taking care of their employees. I would love to hear stories related to that! Certainly the larger casinos/resorts in New Orleans took care of their employees after the hurricane.

And, since we are leaving for the BI on Saturday, I will be glad to post anything along these lines that I hear from people that I meet.

I think that's a great idea about the charities, but be very careful/wary of any new "charities" that pop up in the next week or so. My policy is to stick with the "tried and true" - Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity are two examples.

By the way, just heard that the quake video had to be removed. The corporate types didn't want the publicity I guess and they owned the security video, so off it went. Too bad, I was hoping it would show up on "That's incredible video" this week :-)

...I think that's a great idea about the charities, but be very careful/wary of any new "charities" that pop up in the next week or so. My policy is to stick with the "tried and true" - Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity are two examples.

I understand and agree with your concern. ^ Habitat for Humanity won't be in a position to respond to the immediacy of the need, and it does not have a strong presence on the island.

As I say, I can give anyone who might be interested a recommendation, one of which will funnel 100% of gifts to those affected.

The stories continue to grow about how this earthquake has really affected the island more than first thought.

Over 1100 homes are partially uninhabitable
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2006/10/19/local_news/local02.txt

Several of the observatories on top of Mauna Kea are having to be repaired.
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2006/10/19/local_news/local01.txt

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The oldest church on the Big Island is looking at $500,000 in repairs
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2006/10/19/local/local06.txt

And as hard-to-reach spots are finally accessed, the damage level grows
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2006/10/19/local/local02.txt

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Thanks for the good links!! Just wanted to let others know that you need to use "flyertalk" for both the username and password. Took me awhile to get in as I tried flyertalk as username and flyertalk@flyertalk.com as the password and it didn't work. I then tried variations on that until I got the working combo. Maybe I just mis-interpreted the post above, but if you do too, thought I'd give you a heads up............

By the way, just heard that the quake video had to be removed. The corporate types didn't want the publicity I guess and they owned the security video, so off it went. Too bad, I was hoping it would show up on "That's incredible video" this week :-)
I agree. The video was incredible. The pool turned into a sauna! I would've expected more scurrying of individuals, though. I guess most guests were still in bed when the quake happened.

Cblaisd, You are correct, the reports hardly mention the damage on the BI. As a matter of fact, I didn't have a clue just how bad it was there based upon the reports I heard/read while in Waikiki through Monday night.

However, from my perspective in Waikiki, the worst we had to deal with was the lack of electricity. Life seemed to go on as normal.

The media, at least on the East Coast, isn't really reporting on this at all beyond announcing Hawaii was declared a disaster.

Ummm, does anyone else think that the HFD chief who flew to Vegas 13 hours after the earthquake/blackout occurred, may have served better by postponing the trip? Or is his assertion that "I called Mufi and told him 'Everything's OK, except the blackout, and there's not much I can do about that, so is it OK if I go Vegas?' and Mufi said 'OK'." plausible?

I was on vacation in Oahu during the earthquake and awake in my hotel room on the 26th floor of the HHV hotel. It shook quite a bit during both large earthquakes and I believe I felt 1-2 more of the larger aftershooks. The power was out for approx. 15 hours.

They had generators operating 1 elevator per tower most of the time (until they had to get more fuel for the generators) and security was running them. It was difficult to catch the elevator down as the buttons did not work and you had to get lucky that it stopped on your floor, so we opted for the stairs down. The lines up were quite long. No water for a few hours.

I felt that the staff was great. They called in additional employees and many worked overtime and showed up early the next day. The employees were not complaining at all.

Communication could have been better at the hotel. We heard that annoncements were made in various towers, but in our tower we never heard any annoncements. I'm not sure if the system was broken in our tower. We discovered after the fact that 2 flashlights were in each mini-bar for emergency use, which would have been better than being in the dark. Also the local newpaper had a quote from the hotel stating they gave each room free water bottles, however we never heard of this either. Not that bad, but we did wait for 2+ hours in line at the ABC store to get water and a little food.

The power came on in waves through Waikiki and it was awesome to hear. As power was restored, you would hear a round of cheers. A few minutes later another round of cheers until all was restored in the area.

I just returned from Kaua'i and the BI. We were on Kaua'i when the earthquake hit, and felt the hotel floor move abit...it wasn't until a few hours later that we realized the extent of the quake.

After initially thinking about diverting the BI trip portion to O'ahu, we decided to stick it out and head to Kona. We were glad we did.

I don't want to minimize the impact to many people who live along the Kohala/Kona coast and who suffered damage to their homes and businesses, but I want to report as of a few days after the quake, everything on the BI appeared to be perfectly normal. If anyone considered delaying or cancelling your trip, please don't - go ahead and visit.

Except for some closed areas of the Island up near Hawi, everything else we encountered was normal. This included visits we made to:

*The Onizuka Visitors Center on Mauna Kea
*Pu'u Honua o' Honaunau
*Kalapana for Kilauea eruption viewing
*Wagon ride in Waipi'o Valley (horseback riding was suspended by the operator due to a landslide, which the family decided was an over-reaction after the fact)
*Driving the Mamalahoa Hwy and Saddle Rd was normal
*All restaurants we frequented were open
*Snorkeling at Two-Step was normal
*Driving southbound along the coast all the way to the Volcano was normal - roads were fine
*The Sheraton Keahou Bay was fine, although the conference center housed many patients displaced from the Kona Community Hospital

Businesses and people on the BI need the support of tourism and visitors, so please don't cancel or delay trip plans because of any perception the Island is in some kind of disarray or suffered major damage...that is not the case at all.

Businesses and people on the BI need the support of tourism and visitors, so please don't cancel or delay trip plans

Quite agree!

because of any perception the Island is in some kind of disarray or suffered major damage...that is not the case at all.

No, things are not in disarray, but yes, the west side of the island DID suffer major damage. Lots and lots and lots of people have been badly affected. $50 million damage to schools and another $50 damage to homes/businesses.

Yes, please come visit our island, but I would also invite folks to consider a donation to one of the bonafide charities helping folks out.

Broken ditches threaten Hawaii businesses, farms

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:49 AM HST

by Bret Yager
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
North Hawaii farmers and ranchers are facing water woes that could extend for months following the destruction and blockage of major irrigation systems nourishing an estimated 400 farms and businesses.

With earthquake damage strangling millions of gallons of water from three major ditches, the shortage has affected not just crops. It has also damaged a thriving farm tourism industry that showcases everything from spectacular scenery to local herbs, crawfish and goat cheese, fruit and beef -- all part of the diversified agriculture that helped reinvent the North Hawaii landscape after the closure of the sugar plantations.

Flumin' Da Ditch may be the most notable casualty. The Hawi kayak tour company closed its doors Tuesday. It drew 22,000 visitors a year for "float tours" of the Kohala Ditch.

An emotional general manager who wished that his name be withheld said that 15 employees have lost their jobs.....

More at http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2006/10/25/local_news/local01.txt

Quake damage may exceed $200M

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:34 AM HST

Engineers assessing hard hit areas say initial estimate didn't include individual homes

by Bret Yager
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
Big Island earthquake damage will likely exceed $200 million by the time the counting is done.

The new estimate, which is double earlier projections, comes from a team of University of Hawaii geotechnical and structural engineers who recently wrapped up an inspection of the damage caused by the Oct. 15 temblors.

"A lot of damage cannot be seen right after a quake and it takes time to see it and catalog it," said UH geotechnical engineer Horst Brande, one of three authors of the latest report. "Initial estimates didn't include damage to individual residences. That's going to be significant chunk of change."

Most homes weathered the quakes unscathed, but those perched on pier-and-beam systems set on loose concrete blocks fared by far the worst of any of the 1,800 homes damaged, the team reported....

More: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2006/10/31/local_news/local01.txt

I spoke with a condo manager up in Kona today and he reports that the small cracks they saw in the concrete a week or two ago, now show re-bar. For the uninitiated, re-bar is the metal they stick inside concrete for added support.

He also reports chunks of concrete on the ground that was not there the day before. Some of the cracks are widening.

$1.5M in quake damage to Historic sites

Friday, November 10, 2006 10:44 AM HST

by Carolyn Lucas

State engineers, geologists and staff immediately fanned out across the Big Island to inspect places of importance following the Oct. 15 earthquakes.

According to their assessments, it will likely cost more than $1.5 million to repair damage at Hulihee Palace, Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area, Kamehameha I's birthplace and Lapakahi State Historical Park.....

More: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2006/11/10/local_news/local08.txt

Just had a 5.0 (preliminary estimate) quake in the same place as the last ones.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/hv00021672.php

Shook pretty hard here on the other side of the island, ~60 miles away.

Felt it in Lahaina!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So far so good?

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Nov/23/br/br2651843790.html

Felt the quake in Honolulu as well. Glad the power didn't go out here, but the article states that the power went out for some in Kona. Hopefully HELCO can get it up and running soon for them on this holiday!

I further hope that all this seismic activity is not a sign of something larger to come...

Our house shook and windows rattled for 5-10 seconds here in Wailea.

ohhh boy.. not again :(

I'm glad the power stayed on this time.

We felt it on Kaua'i as well.

From today's Honolulu Advertiser:
The Oct. 15 outage that left 291,000 O'ahu households without electricity for most of the day could have been avoided had Hawaiian Electric Co. replaced several palm-sized switches with ones that are better suited for earthquakes.

The switches, once available at Radio Shack, gave false readings that a fluid was low and triggered the automatic shutdown of two of HECO's largest generators. That in turn caused other generators to shut down in a cascading effect until the entire island was left without power.

"The HECO system would have survived" if not for the shutdown of those two generators, concluded a 90-page report submitted to the state Public Utilities Commission yesterday.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061229/BUSINESS/612290351

Yikes! Well I don't know just what to say about this one. Perhaps HECO really needed to get their act together on this one as most of the state had no way of communicating with each other.

From today's Honolulu Advertiser:

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061229/BUSINESS/612290351

Yikes! Well I don't know just what to say about this one. Perhaps HECO really needed to get their act together on this one as most of the state had no way of communicating with each other.

Sounds like HECO learned their disaster planning from the same school that taught Florida Power & Light.

I wonder if HECO will pull the same stunt as FPL (post Hurricanes) and blame the customers for the outage while slapping everyone with a hefty monthly fee increase as punishment for our 'unreasonable' demands to have power restored in a 'reasonable' amount of time after a disruption.

I wonder if HECO will pull the same stunt as FPL (post Hurricanes) and blame the customers for the outage while slapping everyone with a hefty monthly fee increase as punishment for our 'unreasonable' demands to have power restored in a 'reasonable' amount of time after a disruption.
IIRC, HECO actually gave customers a break within the last few months rather than slap extra charges. But my memory is foggy.

Lest anyone think that these two earthquakes a year ago tomorrow were "easy," there is much work yet to do:

Repairs to county facilities plod along

The repair bill for quake damage to Hawaii County facilities is likely to go up from original estimates.

Damage to county roads, bridges, buildings, water systems and parks were pegged at $17 million, but county officials are cautioning that the actual cost is likely to be higher than engineers' estimates....

More.... (http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2007/10/14/local_news/local02.txt)
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And that doesn't count damages to state property (like the Palace in Kailua-town or the Kawaihae Harbor facilities (http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2007/10/14/local_news/local05.txt)), or to churches (the Kalahikiola Church (http://starbulletin.com/2006/10/21/news/art7a.jpg) repair is going to be much higher than first thought), or the individual homes (there are still hundreds of folks who haven't been able to repair their damages because they simply can't afford to)

The damages to Hawai`i County parks were also severe and most repairs haven't been able to happen yet. (http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2007/10/14/local_news/local04.txt)

No one who was here forgets what they were doing a year ago. (http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2007/10/14/local_news/local01.txt)

Another very comprehensive article (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/NEWS01/710140357/1001/NEWS01) from the Honolulu Advertiser

Lest anyone think that these two earthquakes a year ago tomorrow were "easy," there is much work yet to be done

No one who was here forgets what they were doing a year ago. (http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2007/10/14/local_news/local01.txt)


Thanks for the reminder and also for the update CBLAISD. We were praying for everyone on the islands this very time last year. I can on imagine how difficult things must have been.

We spent our Christmas year before last helping Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi and Louisiana clean up and rebuild. It was devistating. Wish Hawaii wasn't so far from OKC.

My goodness... a year ago already :eek: :eek:

I have to agree, it's not likely I will forget where I was, what I was doing, or what it was like in Hawaii that day.