Small earthquake off East Oahu felt throughout the island
COURTESY USGS
The red dot on this U.S. Geological Survey map shows the approximate location of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake this afternoon off Oahu.
A magnitude 3.5 earthquake struck in the Kaiwi Channel off East Oahu and was widely felt throughout the island and on Molokai this afternoon.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the small quake did not pose a tsunami threat to Hawaii.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at about 1:53 p.m., and was centered about 19 miles east-southeast of East Oahu and 14 miles west-northwest of Maunaloa, Molokai, at a depth of about 5 miles.
“Earthquakes in this region are not common but have occurred occasionally in the past 200 years,” officials with the USGS’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in summary about the quake. “These earthquakes are caused by bending of the crust beneath the islands and associated adjustments related to the weight of the islands.”
Some East and Windward Oahu residents reported feeling a strong jolt to their homes and hearing a rumble, while residents throughout Oahu also reported feeling some shaking.
The USGS’ “Did you feel it?” self-reported online survey for the temblor recorded over 200 immediate responses, mostly from East and Windward Oahu but as far away as Pearl City and Mililani.
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HVO scientists said that “aftershocks are possible in the coming days to weeks.”
