[Rockhounds] Hawaii earthquake & hurricane

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Aloha,

It is said there are three things a Geologist (or serious Rockhound)
should experience once during their lifetime -- a significant
earthquake, an erupting volcano, and a glacier. 

I think a hurricane may qualify as a high speed glacier; water and
gravity can never be ignored. 

Please be careful. Congrats!

Kreigh




Kitty & Bill Heacox wrote:
> 
> Hi List,
> 
> Last night as we were preparing for hurricane Flossie we were jolted
> by a 5.4 earthquake.  This brought back memories of the 6.7 one last
> October, but it wasn't as bad, of course.  The epicenter was in the
> area of Kilauea.  At our house a few things tipped over or fell to
> the floor---including some rocks.  The only thing that broke was a
> very old bottle that we found in the ground when our house was being
> built;  sad to lose an old curiosity, but it was free, after all!
> 
> This morning we just finished securing things outside that could
> become missiles in the wind---like garbage cans and lanai
> furniture.  We're expecting 50 mph winds this afternoon, and we're
> already getting lots of rain.  There's a flash flood watch in place,
> but our house is on a hill, so there should be no problem there.  We
> are beginning to see a small pond and a stream running through our
> yard, however.  We should be safe from wind because our house is very
> strongly built;  for example, instead of standard hurricane straps we
> have 1/4-inch steel plates that bolt all the overhead structure
> together, and the posts to the piers in the ground.  And we have
> plenty of rocks to weigh things down!
> 
> Hawaii is a neat place to live, but between earthquakes, hurricanes,
> floods, tsunamis and lava flows, there are enough hazards to
> counterbalance the pleasures!  That's what makes it interesting as
> long as precautions are taken.
> 
> Aloha, Kitty
>