A moderate 3.7 earthquake struck near Kalapana on Hawaii’s Big Island east coast shortly after 12:23pm local time. Hawaii County Civil Defense just announced that the earthquake “was not large enough to cause a tsunami for the Island of Hawaii.” But Civil Defense warns, “As in all earthquakes, be aware of the possibility of after-shocks.”
“Can You Feel It” reports submitted to the USGS by people on Hawaii, which continue to come in, show many felt the earthquake. Hawaii County Civil Defense cautions, “If the earthquake was strongly felt in your area, precautionary checks should be made for any damages, especially to utility connections of gas, water, and electricity.”
While no lava is flowing on the surface anywhere in Hawaii today, it remains seismically active since the 2018 eruption of Kilauea’s Lower East Rift Zone. In the last year, there have been over 4,100 earthquakes on Hawaii with a magnitude of 1.5 or greater; there were 495 in the last 30 days, 156 in the last 7 days, and 21 in just the last 24 hours. Today’s 3.7 is the strongest to occur this month. A 5.5 that occurred near Volcano, Hawaii last March was the strongest within the last 365 days.
