Thursday Night Earthquake Upgraded to 4.7M

PTWC image.

An earthquake that occurred Thursday at 11:16 p.m. has been upgraded to a 4.7 magnitude.

Just before 2 a.m., Hawaiian Volcano Observatory noted that the quake occurred north of the Big Island and east of Maui the evening prior.

No tsunami was generated by the earthquake.

The earthquake was centered about 51.9 miles northeast of Honoka’a and 58 miles east of Hana, Maui at a depth of 12.2 miles.

Over 230 felt reports were received on the USGS’s Did You Feel it? website, with reports on the Big Island and Maui and as far as Molokai and Oahu.

Reports noted moderate shaking, however, no major damage was reported.

According to HVO, the earthquake was the largest recorded from the same area since the magnitude-5.3 earthquake that occurred in July 2005. In January 1938, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck northeast of Maui and was felt statewide. These events are related to tectonic bending of the Earth’s crust due to the weight of the islands.

“HVO monitoring networks have not detected any significant changes in activity at the summit or along the rift zones of Kīlauea resulting from the earthquake,” said HVO Scientist-in-Charge Christina Neal.