Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Strikes Near Honaunau‑Napoopoo, Hawaii; No Tsunami Warning Reported

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck near Honaunau-Napoopoo on the Island of Hawaii late Friday night local time, producing very strong felt reports, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake hit at 7:46:01 UTC on May 23, or 9:46:01 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time on May 22. In checks of tsunami.gov, which carries Pacific Tsunami Warning Center alerts, between about 8:08 and 8:10 UTC, no active tsunami warning or advisory for the event was apparent.

The USGS said the earthquake was centered 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) east-southeast of Honaunau-Napoopoo in the South Kona area, at 19.427 degrees north latitude and 155.810 degrees west longitude. It reported the depth at 16.12 kilometers, or about 10 miles. On the USGS “Did You Feel It?” page, the quake had a maximum community intensity of VII, with 2,522 reports submitted as of the same period.

As of those checks, no formal event-specific statement addressing damage, casualties or emergency actions had been posted by the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, Hawaii County Civil Defense or the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. That means official assessments were still emerging in the hours immediately after the shaking.

An intensity of VII on the Modified Mercalli scale is classified by the USGS as “very strong” shaking. That scale measures what people experience at the surface, rather than the energy released by the quake itself. A reading at that level, combined with more than 2,500 felt reports, suggests the earthquake was a significant event for nearby communities and that at least some damage would be plausible, particularly in more vulnerable structures, even before any official confirmation.

Hawaii earthquakes can be tied to several processes, including volcanic activity, movement of the island’s flanks, shallow faulting and deeper bending of the Pacific Plate, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. No cause for this earthquake had been established in the material reviewed for this report.

Hawaii has experienced damaging magnitude-6 and larger earthquakes before, including the 2006 Kiholo Bay event, so local officials’ assessments are likely to be closely watched as more information becomes available.