A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the world’s largets active volcano on Friday — Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii — knocking items off shelves and cutting power in a nearby town but not immediately prompting reports of serious damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey also confirmed that earthquake struck the Big Island of Hawaii with some shaking reported about 200 miles away in Honolulu. The earthquake about 10 a.m. local time was centered 11 miles south of Naalehu, Hawaii, at a depth of 6 miles. No tsunami warning was expected, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
“It shook us bad to where it wobbled some knees a little bit,” said Derek Nelson, the manager of the Kona Canoe Club restaurant in the oceanside community of Kona, on the island’s western side. “It shook all the windows in the village.”
Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano, background, towers over the summit crater of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island in 2019
Mauna Loa last erupted in late 2022. It’s one of five volcanoes that make up the Big Island, which is the southernmost in the Hawaiian archipelago.
Earthquakes can occur in Hawaii for a variety of reasons, including magma moving under the surface. In Friday’s case, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the likely cause was the weight of the Hawaiian Islands bending and stressing the Earth’s crust and upper mantle.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the earthquake was caused by the weight of the Hawaiian Islands on the Earth’s surface — a type of earthquake that occurs occasionally in the islands, which have been built by successive volcanic eruptions over millions of years. The observatory said the earthquake didn’t affect either Mauna Loa or neighboring Kilauea volcano, and that its intensity wouldn’t damage buildings or infrastructure.
The Big Island is mostly rural and hosts cattle ranches, coffee farms and resort hotels. But it is also home to a few small cities, including the county seat of Hilo, which has a population of roughly 45,000.
