Earthquake

"F" just happened to email me about earthquake risk. He wanted to know how often earthquakes occur in the Ka'u area and were they damaging. Well, just the other night, since you happen to ask, we experienced an earthquake. Yup. Good timing, "F". 

This earthquake was posted as a 5.5 and located 12 km SSE of Volcano. That means that it was quite a distance from me. But even so, it woke us up about 1 am with the house shaking, roof complaining, doors rattling. Only lasted 5 -10 seconds, but once we were awake.....that's it for sleeping for awhile. No damage around the house that we could see. This wasn't a quake to be concerned about. Not even a glass sitting beside the kitchen sink had moved. 

Many years ago we had a quake that cracked one of our house foundation slabs. I guess some of the gravel supporting the long narrow concrete slab settled, thus cracking the slab. Those long narrow foundations are required by the building code for pier & post foundations. We didn't see damage on the traditional piers, but the long slab was a different story. 

Since we bought land here in the early 2000's, there hasn't been a major earthquake in Ka'u. But it will be coming. Eventually Mauna Loa will again erupt, bringing earthquakes. Historically Ka'u gets a big one when the volcano erupts on our side of the rift system. Perhaps it will happen in my lifetime, perhaps not. I'll just have to take it as it comes and be prepared.