Your stories from the Hawaiian earthquake

We live in Kailua-Kona and were home when the earthquake, followed by the large after shock hit. The house shook violently and the initial quake lasted longer than others. I moved here from California about a year and a half ago, so I experienced lots of earthquakes in the past. This was the longest lasting and most violent that I've ever experienced. The quake shook pictures off the walls and broke a few things, but we really suffered little damage. We've driven around town. There are many rock walls that were knocked down and boulders on the roads, but there overall doesn't seem like there was much damage here. Our power was out for a couple hours, but everything is back up now. --Bud Crosthwait (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

My wife and I live in Kailua-Kona. As transplants from Northern California, we have experienced earthquakes before. However, this one was unlike anything we have ever been through. our house is a two story house with the master bedroom and living room on the top floor. The house was shaking so hard that we were almost unable to stand. Dishes and glassware were flying out of the cabinets and furniture was sliding across the floor. The thing that struck us the hardest was the sound. There was a loud rumbling sound from the earthquake, loud popping sounds from the house, and the sound of glass shattering all around us. Then, after the first aftershock hit about ten minutes after the quake, everything was very still and very quiet for about ten minutes when we started hearing sirens all over town. We were very fortunate. Except for a couple of very scared cats, a lot of broken glass, and some frayed nerves, we came out untouched. We were without electricity for about four hours, but everything is working now. We have not left the house today as the roads are a mess and the authorities don't need us clogging them more. We are on the hill above town and are able to see most of Kailua-Kona from our house as well as the ocean. A Holland America ship had just arrived in port when the earthquake hit. They quickly erloaded all the passengers and headed out to sea about three hours later. Jim Whillock Kailua-Kona, Hawaii --Jim Whillock (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

My boyfriend and I live in Hilo on the Big Island. We woke up around 7 o clock to shaking and we both thought that someone was shaking our bed. Then it gradually started getting more intense. We got up and moved to our door frame and could see outside the window the street sign/lights that we live by violently shaking up and down. It is now 12:45 and there are no cars on the road or people outside their homes. Our first concern was not that it was an earthquake, but that possibly the volcano(mauna kea or mauna loa) was erupting because of how strong the shaking was.My boyfriend and I both grew up in california and have dealt with our fair share of earthquakes, but this is the first one in the three years of living here that we have ever felt even a tremor. --Tia Quezada (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

Submitted by John Wood Glassware lies shattered on the floor of John Wood's kitchen.

A little past 7:00 HST, my wife and I were in our waterbed, watching the TV news and enjoying a Sunday morning, when we left the stronest earthquake we have experienced here in Waimea (aka Kamuela), Hawaii. The quake rumbled on and on and seemed to increase with intensity. Most of our glassware and plates fell out of cabinets and the debris covered our kitchen floor. We have cracks in the walls of our home. --John Wood (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

We live about 12 miles south of Hilo, on the east side of the big island. What was striking was how long the vibrations persisted. The smaller quakes we commonly feel here usually are relatively shallow and of local origin, coming frequently from the Kilauea summit area. Thus one can often distinctly discern passage of the P-wave, followed by the slower traveling S-wave. Here at our house, the P and S waves were all mixed up, indicating that the energy had traveled a good distance and through many layers. The only damage here was a trophy that fell and broke. --Alistair Bostrom (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

Submitted by Brendan Poff A lamp and other equipment lies on the ground in this picture from Brendan Poff.

I woke up a little before 7am, and our cats came tearing through the bedroom. Next thing you know the rumbling and the shaking started. It was very strong and the sound of the rumbling was very loud. I have been in the '89 earthquake in SF and the LA one a couple years after that, and I found it very comparable to both. We are on the Big Island, Kailua Kona. We found our living room trashed, stereo flew off the entertainment center, pictures flew off the walls or were really tilted. Upstairs our closet doors came off of their tracks, printer/fax flew to the ground, lamps on the ground, etc. Very violent shaking. Couldn't get any radio stations for a while, which was scary. Electricity for me came back on after an hour, but I just spoke to another teacher and she still has no electricity. We don't know if we are to report to school tommorrow either. Hope no more like this for a while!! --Brendan Poff (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

We were playing on the first hole at the Pukalani golf course when the earthquake first hit us. I was in the passenger's side of our golf cart and felt the first quake and looked down and was wondering how the golf cart could start up and shake when the brake was on and no one was in the drivers seat. I looked up and the homes and trees appeared to be shaking and only then realized it was a quake. Image my confusion thinking it was something wrong with our golf cart. --dave anzai (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

We were just getting ready to get out of bed. It sounded like a helicopter was landing in our yard, then the bed shook, and fear ran up our spines like electricity! We realized it was an earthquake, and we were thankful we were safe and sound! We felt it and we live on Kauai! --Kathy Peters (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

To MSNBC, I just wanted to comment on the Hawaii Earthquake. My fiance is in Oahu. He was woken up this morning to shaking and was actually shaken out of bed. There was no damage to any of the buildings that he has seen, but things had fallen off of the walls in his apartment. After the earthquake, there was no power and no cell phone signal, at least where he was. He left to head toward Mililani Town to find signal to call me right after the quake happened. He called me this morning at 3:16 PM eastern standard time, 7:16 pacific time. He then called T-Mobile, our cell phone company, who informed him that cell phone service may be out for at least 7 more hours in various places in Oahu. In recent updates, he has cell phone signal back, but no power. All the radio stations where out as well. The weather there itself is dreary and rainy. From what he has heard, the quake registered at 6.5, and then another at 5.8. Power is still out, and he was told not to drink the water. Radios are still out. He has also heard some news from the Big Island that hospitals are evacuating due to damages, and that there are major mudslides. He has also heard that there are sink holes forming in various places in Oahu, but he hasn't seen those for himself. We tried to contact eachother once more a couple of minutes ago but the cell service seems to be out again. Meanwhile we are trying not to worry so much, and just waiting to see what happens next while keeping our thoughts and prayers on those located on the Big Island closer to where the earthquake hit. I have been watching you guys for the last couple of hours, thank you so much for keeping all of us here on the mainland informed! You were the first station I found who was covering the story! So thank you again! Hannah --Hannah Ponterio (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

I was sleeping and I felt the condo shaking and grabbed by boyfriend and started screaming, I am in Kailua Kona, we were not expecting that are pool had waves splashing out 4 feet out on the side it was a big quake!! --Dana Springer (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

I was in bed and I thought a volcano had erupted or something. When I realized after the second one (6.6) hit, then I knew it was an earthquake, with the first (4.5) being a precursor to the second. I called my Dad in Colorado and told him not to worry. He was trying to get a hold of me, I was sure. Went outside and checked out the house and it seemed to be OK...If this was a little stronger, no doubt we would have some structual damage. Maybe this is a wake-up call --Derek Strayer (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

The walls and ceiling in my Lahaina home were shaking back and forth, and suprisingly, the up and down motion of the ground was the shocking part. But, up and down; side to side we went for what seemed like a full half minute. I ran outside; then remembered I had some treasured items on a high shelf. My ukulele's hit the ground, but I ran back and forth under the shelf, like an outfielder, waiting to grab anything that fell. Once the tremors were done, I took stock and started cleaning up the fallen and broken items; when an aftershock came, I was back being an outfielder. I grew up in S. Ca so was familiar with earthquakes, but this one was as strong as any I experienced in California. This quake was surely an E-ticket ride! --Robert Sides (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

My girlfriend and I live in a house with three other college kids here in Hilo, HI. At a few minutes after 7am, my girlfriend and I woke up to the windows shaking and then that's when we immediately felt the house start to wobble. I used to live in New Orleans, on a more popular boulevard where if a bus or a large truck drove by that house would shake. This felt very similiar to that, just a few seconds longer. We bolted for the door, grabbing our roommate as she was being shakin awake by the trembling. When we got outside, our other roommates we're standing in the yard. We could see other families on our street and here young kids questioning there parents in the distance to what was going on. --Chris Stuckey (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

My fiance (Tina) and I are staying at the Four Seasons Hualalai. Based upon the maps we believe the quake epicenter was only a couple of miles away. It was an exciting start to our day. A very heavy shake - many of our friends at the resort reported broken glasses and fallen lamps. We hopefully will get married later today. Power is out, the salon is closed, but the beaches are open. Its a beautiful day in Hawaii and the resort staff have been great. We are hoping that this is some kind of a positive sign relative to our big day - perhaps a message from Pele. That technology and all the frills of our modern world, pale against the power of nature and that of friendship, love and the dream of a life together. --Scott Martiny (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

I live in the small town of Hawi in the district of North Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was in my office when the quake first shook, and my first thought was, "Oh, just a little earthquake" (up until now, they all were small). Then it began to get stronger and I tried to stand up, but was knocked back into my chair. It just kept going and getting stronger, as I watched books flying off the bookcases and items on my desks falling on the floor. My mother lives in an apt. next door, and all I could think of at that point was getting to her to see if she was ok. She was in the bathtub when it happened and hit her head on the faucet, but it was only a minor injury. After the shaking stopped, which lasted about 30 to 45 seconds, I ran to the house to find everything from the kitchen cabinets, pantry, tables, and entertainment center on the floor. There must have been an inch of broken glass in every direction. The drywall and bathroom tile is cracked, a window is broken, there are dents in the kitchen counter and sink where they were hit by flying debris, the TV is demolished, and the kitchen cabinet was twisted so much that the doors don't close anymore. Other than that - and the fact that our cat is missing - my husband, myself, my mother, and our dog are all ok. We feel very lucky that the main structure of our home is undamaged and that no one was seriously hurt. We live very close to the epicenter of this quake, and it could have been much worse. I've lived in Hawaii for over 20 years, and before that I lived in California for 13 years, but I've never experienced a quake as scary as this one. I'm still shaking! --Sheree King (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

I'm at Pearl harbor Naval Base and the earthquake was strong enough to wake up everyone on the USNS Ericsson when it hit. Power was completely lost on the base. We are taking food from other Naval vessels and storing it because we have our own refridgerated containers and they don't. I don't know who told you power has been restored but it IS NOT. We may not get it back for at least another 6 hours. --Tim Taylor (submitted on Oct. 15, 2006)

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