Ever since we were school-age children in Hawaii, we all knew that our Hawaiian islands are on a large Pacific plate, which is moving slowly in the northwest direction. Although the island chain is slowly moving, the “hot spot” (where lava come out of Earth’s mantle) remains stationary (currently under Kilauea volcano).

Therefore, there will be more new islands formed southeast of the Big Island. In other words, it is not a secret that the Big Island is growing to the southeast and eventually more new islands will be born in that direction. It’s very unwise to build a house in the direction of the island growth (lava flows). What happened in 2018 to the Leilani Estates was not unexpected.

If you do not want your homes burned down to the ground by natural lava flows, do not build houses on top of volcanoes or in the path of lava (southeast of Kilauea).

James Fujioka

Kahala

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