Hawaii shaken by several earthquakes, biggest at 6.9 magnitude, as volcano eruption continues
Big Island’s Kilauea volcano erupted on Thursday, sending lava-spewing vents across the land; on Friday multiple quakes were felt
The eruption of a volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island has been followed by multiple increasingly strong earthquakes, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said on Friday.
Hawaii County Civil Defence said Friday’s first, 5.4-magnitude earthquake was centred near the south flank of Kilauea volcano, at a depth of 4.2 miles (6.9km), at around 11:30am.
After a series of other tremors, a 6.9-magnitude quake struck 9.9 miles (16km) southwest of the Leilani Estates at about 12:33pm.
It struck in almost exactly the same place as the 7.1-magnitude quake that hit the island in 1975, according to the USGS Seismic Twitter feed.
After a week of earthquakes and warnings, the eruption that began Thursday threw lava into the sky from a crack in a road and sent another line of molten rock snaking through a forest. The activity continued Friday, with reports of lava spurting from volcanic vents on two streets.