The volcano started sending out fountains and rivers of lava on Thursday and on Friday the island was hit by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. Since Thursday, Kilauea has opened 12 volcanic vents and new fissures and vents opened overnight in the Leilani Estates, where lava leapt up to 230ft (70m) into the air. Leilani Estates is about 12 miles (19km) from the volcano. Activity has subsided but the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) said the drop-off in activity from the eruption is “likely only a pause in activity.”
High levels of volcanic gases, including sulfur dioxide are still coming from the fissures. The observatory said in a statement: “This morning, two new fissure segments broke ground. The first opened in a forested southwest of Leilani Estates about 9.30am and was active for only 3 hours. “The second opened about 12.20 between older fissures 10 and 11. “By 3.15pm, both new fissures were in active but the west end of fissure 10 was steaming heavily.”
Getty Hawaii volcano eruption update: Kilauea volcano has been erupting dramatically since Thursday
Getty Hawaii volcano eruption update: A total of 35 structures have been destroyed by lava flow
Hundreds of people have been ordered to leave their homes on the eastern side of the Big Island in the wake of Kilauea’s eruption. A total of 35 structures, mostly homes, have been destroyed by by lava flowing from the eruptions, officials said. The largest earthquake to hit the volcano was a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake on the volcano’s south flank on Friday. Further earthquakes have hit the volcano in the days following and on Tuesday, May 8, a total of 62 earthquakes shook the coast of Hawaii at various magnitudes - the first one was recorded at 12.04am (HST).
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Hawaii volcano eruption update: Kilauea has been struck by a number of earthquakes today
What other earthquakes have hit today? It is not just Hawaii’s Big Island which has experienced earthquakes today. According to Volcano Discovery, there have been a total of 123 earthquakes measuring less than magnitude 2.5 in the last 24 hours. The largest earthquake was a magnitude 4.5 quake which hit the west coast of California just before 5am. There were no reports of injuries or damage to buildings, but residents took to social media to report the tremor had woken them up.
Volcano Discovery Hawaii volcano eruption update: Where have earthquakes hit in the world in the past 24 hours?
Kilauea volcano eruption LIVE PICTURES Tue, May 8, 2018 Staggering images show the sheer scale of the Hawaiian Kilauea volcano as lava and hazardous fumes continue to spew Play slideshow EPA 1 of 35 The entire north portion of Mount Kilauea's Overlook crater
The earthquake was felt just before 5am west coast US time. Official reports say the earthquake was at magnitude 4.4 and 57 miles east of Riverside. The are no reports of injuries or damage to buildings at this time. But the relatively strong quake was felt in Seal Beach, Victorville, Redlands, Lancaster and other Southern California area, with residents reporting that the tremor had awoke them.
EXPRESS • GETTY California earthquake: A huge quake hit the west coast of US today
The "Did You Feel It" map for the 4.5 & 3.2 quakes north of Cabazon. So far the USGS is up to 2700+ responses from around the region. pic.twitter.com/ondtVj3zhM — David Biggar (@DavidNBCLA) May 8, 2018
Californians took to Twitter to describe the earthquake. General Organa wrote: “Goooood morning Southern California, what an unpleasant wake up call”. Jeanne Deplorable added: “We just had an earthquake in San Bernardino. I don't know where it originated but it shook the whole house.” The account Aircraft Spots said: “Wow! Very large earthquake just now in Riverside, Southern California. Shook me awake and was very loud and knocked a few things down. Haven't felt one that big in a while”.
GETTY The earthquake struck Cabazon
However, some were worried that this earthquake could be a precursor to the Big One, which will at some point devastate California. Twitter user Mr Kleptonioc wrote: “Earthquake in #California small but I felt that they keep saying we overdue for that big one”. California sits on top of the North American and Pacific tectonic plates and the San Andreas fault runs through it. For decades, residents of the southwestern state and scientists have been concerned a huge earthquake, known as the Big One, is on its way.
GETTY The San Andreas fault runs through California
Richard Aster, Professor of Geophysics at Colorado State University wrote recently for the Conversation: “The earthquake situation in California is actually more dire than people who aren't seismologists like myself may realise. “Although many Californians can recount experiencing an earthquake, most have never personally experienced a strong one. “For major events, with magnitudes of seven or greater, California is actually in an earthquake drought.” The last time there was a magnitude seven quake or higher in California was in 1906 which struck San Francisco and ultimately killed around 3,000 people. But Prof Aster says the damage this time could be much worse.
Most dangerous earthquake hotspots Wed, January 25, 2017 7 Countries where you’re most likely to get struck by an earthquake. Play slideshow Express 1 of 8 7 deadly earthquake hotspots
The most recent (above magnitude 2 for the past few hours, larger magnitudes for the rest of the past day, to limit the number to about 100 per day) are shown below with detail links for each quake.We use(currently over 20 different national and international agencies), and prioritize them in the following descending order: national institutes / agencies - USGS - EMSC - GFZ. Where data from different agencies for the same earthquake is available, you can find and compare the often differing data for magnitude, depth etc. in the detail page for each quake.As ae, when updates are available, you will be notified to reload the page from the server (or use F5 key / Shift-Reload). You can also opt for the page toIf you are looking for smaller and/or, you should navigate there from the top menu - otherwise, there would be hundreds or thousands of earthquakes shown here.
