Hawaii earthquake: Magnitude 5.3 strikes Big Island – could Kilauea volcano be affected?
HAWAII’S Big Island has been struck by a strong earthquake, the same island which is home to the world’s most active volcano. So will it be affected?
By KATE WHITFIELD
Express.co.uk
Sun, Apr 14, 2019
The earthquake struck on Saturday at 5pm local time (Sunday 4am BST) in the northern area of the island. Big Island’s Kilauea volcano has been in a near-constant state of eruption since 1983. In 2018, we saw the huge shield volcano put on an impressive but devastating display, with thousands of homes destroyed.
The quake registered at magnitude-5.3, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS)
The USGS said the earthquake’s epicentre was about eight miles (14km) northwest of the town Kalaoa.
The tremor occurred at a depth of about eight miles, not particularly deep for an earthquake of this magnitude.
In online submissions to USGS, hundreds of Big Island reported moderate to strong shaking the temblor from — Hilo to Kailua-Kona.
Will Kilauea be affected?
Kilauea is on the opposite side of Big Island to the quake epicentre and wasn’t within the shake radius.
The USGS monitoring level for Kilauea – as well as the other volcanoes on the island – remains ‘green normal’.
This means the “volcanic activity has ceased and volcano has returned to non-eruptive background state.”
The Rest…HERE
