at 18:15 on October 16, 2006, EST.
By JAYMES SONG

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (AP) - A favourite pidgin expression in Hawaii - "Lucky you live Hawaii" - gained new meaning Monday as authorities quickly restored electricity and started to clear away boulders after the strongest earthquake to hit the islands in more than two decades.

Twenty-four hours after Sunday's 6.7-magnitude quake, there were no reports of any deaths or serious injuries, and there were few signs of any major damage.

"It lets you know Mother Nature is doing her thing," said Robin Eising, a teacher at Waikoloa Elementary School, which was closed for the day for inspection. "It was a wake-up call."

Still, officials cautioned that they were still inspecting the many bridges, roads, earthen dams, schools and other structures across the Big Island, the isle closest to the epicentre. There were no immediate estimates of the overall damage.

Utilities restored power to 97 per cent of the state's customers by early morning. That figure was expected to reach 99 per cent by the end of the day. Nearly all of Oahu, the most populous island, with more than 800,000 of Hawaii's 1.2 million residents, had been blacked out on Sunday.

The quake hit at 7:07 a.m., 16 kilometres north-northwest of Kailua-Kona, on the west coast of Hawaii Island, known as the Big Island. On Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey raised its measurement of the magnitude from a preliminary 6.6 to 6.7.

At least one stretch of road leading to a bridge near the epicentre collapsed, Civil Defense Agency spokesman Dave Curtis said. Several other roads on the Big Island were closed by mudslides, debris and boulders, but most were still passable, he said.

Many Hawaii residents breathed a sigh of relief. On the Big Island, people were already returning to work and their lives, as bicyclists training for Saturday's Ironman World Championship zipped along the highway.

"If you're going to have an earthquake, you couldn't have had it at a better time - early in the morning when people aren't even out of their homes yet," Curtis said. "I think people, under the circumstances, have remained very calm."

John Lockwood, a former USGS volcanologist who is now a private consultant, said another blessing was that the quake did not divert lava flows from Hawaii's volcanos to populated areas. The lava flows safely into the sea.

Even so, "this brings to forefront the need for people to have 72 hours' worth of supplies to keep them going" after a quake, said Kim Walz, a spokeswoman with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

On Monday morning, the Honolulu airport was filled with passengers still waiting for a flight out.

Silas Garrett, 52, a truck driver from Memphis, Tenn., had been there since 8 a.m. the previous morning. He said he and his five sisters slept on the floor using beach towels as blankets and handbags as pillows.

"Every pound we gained on the cruise ship, we lost in the airport," Garrett said. "The quake shook it off."


©The Canadian Press, 2006

Twenty-four hours after Sunday's 6.7-magnitude quake, there were no reports of any deaths or serious injuries, and there were few signs of any major damage.


always nice to hear

Good to hear.

I don't know if Hawaii gets many earthquakes, but whenever I hear about one I wonder how folks cope living in places they know are susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes and whatnot. I would never have any peace of mind.

Hope they get more help than we did with this storm we had this weekend.Wait, they are Hawaii, of course they'll get help. We're just Western New York, no one knows we even exist.
[Edited 10/17/06 6:39am]

shellyevon said:

Please explain for the ignorant stuck out here in the Land of Smiles.

I'm taking this as a sign to postpone my trip there.

Fauxie said:

I just made a new thread about it. We had a storm that they're telling us is the worst one in recorded history for our area. And we're well known for having bad storms.Feels like we were in a war zone.

maybe it was from north korea testing bombs?
[Edited 10/17/06 7:14am]

shellyevon said:

Oh, but I still don't get it. You mean Western New York as in 'The Big Apple'?

shellyevon said:

Fauxie said:

No, Western New York as in New York State. Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Rochester.Buffalo is the second largest city in New York State.
See, no one knows we exist. If NYC got one tenth of this storm it would be all over the news.

luv4u said: