All Shook Up

October's 6.7 magnitude earthquake has left its imprint on people's minds. That was illustrated yesterday when rumors spread that a large earthquake that would trigger a tsunami was about to hit the Big Island. The Civil Defense was flooded with calls and Hawaii news channels assured people the rumors were false. (can earthquakes be predicted at all?)

Some folks had a hard time calming down after our 5.0 that hit Thanksgiving Day. Maybe I'd be on edge, too, if I had been here for the larger quake in October. But I was in flight when that quake struck. Being from Indiana, I am not used to feeling the earth shake, so this is all kind of new and exciting for me. I was at church during Thursday's 5.0. Folks looked at each other and kept smiling and singing and no one seemed to care much about the quake. My only fears were for my dad's porcelain Christmas village (which was not damaged) and for our turkey in the oven (what if a power outage delayed our eating?)

One thing I do find spooky about earthquakes is that there's no warning. I grew up in tornado country where the weather was a good indication of whether a tornado was likely. Earthquakes strike with no warning signs.

Here's a photo of the seismograph at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park that recorded the 6.7 on October 15th. The first quake that hit at 7:07 is on the right, and the aftershock that happened 7 minutes later is to the left of it, in the center of the paper. Each column on the paper represents one minute.