No Tsunami Threat After 4.6 Hawai‘i Quake

Hawai’i earthquake 2.7.19.
PC: USGS.

There is NO tsunami threat to Hawaiʻi after a 4.6 (preliminary magnitude 4.8) earthquake reported at 9:07 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 SW of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says that based on all available data, there is no tsunami expected, however some areas may have experienced shaking.

According to the USGS Did You Feel It website, multiple people reported feeling the tremor, mostly on the Big Island; however two felt reports were made on Maui within the first 20 minutes of the quake in Makawao and Haʻikū.  The site received over 90 felt reports within two hours of the earthquake.

The USGS reports that the earthquake was centered about 52 miles southwest of Ka Lae (South Point) at a depth of 17 miles.

According to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, “The depth, location, and recorded seismic waves of the earthquake suggest a source due to bending of the oceanic plate from the weight of the Hawaiian island chain, a common source for earthquakes in this area.”

The USGS further states that the earthquake caused no detectable changes to Kīlauea or Mauna Loa volcanoes on the Island of Hawai‘i.

Maui Now/Wendy Osher graphic. PC: background image courtesy USGS.