Hawaii’s Big Island Rattled by Strong Earthquake

Officials say a strong earthquake shook parts of Hawaii’s Big Island but no damage has been reported.

U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says a temblor with a magnitude of 5.0 struck Tuesday, April 14, 2009, at 12:44 p.m. local time about 8 miles southeast of volcano Kilauea’s summit.

The survey says it received more than 350 calls within half an hour of the quake from but no damage was immediately reported.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says the quake isn’t expect to generate a tsunami.

The observatory says it caused no apparent changes in volcanic activity at Kilauea, which began erupting in 1983. It also says 11 quakes with magnitudes of 4 or greater have hit the area in the past 25 years.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters