Earthquakes are
dangerous... But they
can also help scientists
predict another hazard:
volcanic eruptions.
Lately Mauna Loa has been
showing more earthquake
activity but does it mean
an eruption is imminent?
KITV 4's Cam Tran wraps
up Earthquake Week from
the Big Island.
THIS SLEEPING GIANT WHICH
MAKES UP HALF THE BIG
ISLAND MIGHT BE WAKING
UP. Frank Trusdell, HVO
Volcanologist
In:12;35 looks like
Mauna Loa is showing some
signs of activity
VOLCANOLOGIST FRANK
TRUSDELL SAYS HE'S
NOTICING MORE EARTHQUAKES
AND CHANGES TO THE
SURFACE CALLED
DEFORMATION. THESE ARE
KEY ITEMS SCIENTISTS
MONITOR FOR AN ERUPTION.
FT In:54:45 we are
getting small numbers of
earthquakes both on the
west flank and the
summit. And deformation
wise, we are getting
extension across the
flank and across the
summit 55:00 BUT TRUSDELL
SAYS THE SIZE
AND AMOUNT OF EARTHQUAKES
IS STILL FAR FROM THE
ACTIVITY HE SAW BEFORE
THE 1984 MAUNA LOA
ERUPTION. FT 58:55 now
we might be getting
somewhere between 0 and 8
or ten a day. When we
were expecting in 75 and
84 we were having 5 a
day, then 20 a day then
50 to hundreds a day and
stay fairly consistent
over
that time. 56:32 those
seismicity is fairly
sporadic and not
persistent or consistent
enough for us to forecast
the next eruption of
Mauna Loa 56:50 THOUGH
SCIENETISTS SAY NO
ERUPTION IS IMMINENT, IF
MAUNA LOA WERE TO ERUPT
THE HAZARD COULD BE
IMMEDIATE. FT 07:11
South Kona is very
vulnerable to fast moving
lava flow some people
only have a matter of a
few hours to respond.
IN FACT THE THREE 1950
FLOWS ON THE SOUTHWEST
FLANK OF MAUNA LOA
REACHED THE OCEAN IN LESS
THAN A DAY.
IF THE FLOW WERE ON THE
HILO SIDE, SUCH AS THE
1984 ERUPTION THE FLOW
RATE WOULD BE SLOWER. THE
AMOUNT OF LAVA OUTPUT
FROM MAUNA LOA TRUMPS
WHAT WE'RE CURRENTLY
SEEING AT KILAUEA. FT
05:17 Kilauea is putting
out in the neighborhood
of 100 thousand cubic
meters a day in this
current lava flow what
Mauna Loa put out in 1984
was 1 million cubic
meters per
hour 5:33 THERE'S ALSO A
BIG DIFFERENCE IN
SPEED... KILAUEA DURING
THE JUNE 27TH FLOW
COVERED 600 YARDS A DAY
AT ITS PEAK SPEED. MAUNA
LOA CAN COVER ROUHGLY 6
MILES A DAY. A FLOW THAT
FAST COULD QUICKLY CUT
OFF HIGHWAYS AND MAJOR
ROADWAYS. IT WOULD ALSO
MEAN THOUSANDS MORE WOULD
BE AT RISK. THE SOUTHWEST
FLANK OF MAUNA LOA HAS
SEEN A BOOST IN
DEVELOPMENT SINCE THE
LAST ERUPTION WITH MANY
BUILDING RIGHT ON THE OLD
LAVA FLOWS. IN KONA
PARADISE IN SOUTH KONA,
NEW HALF MILLION TO
MILLION DOLLAR HOMES LINE
THE STEEP MOUNTAIN SIDE.
ALONG WITH THE OCEAN
VIEWS RESIDENTS HERE CAN
ALSO SEE CHARRED LAND
FROM OLD LAVA FLOWS. IN
FACT, ONE HOMEOWNER BUILT
RIGHT ON TOP OF IT
ACCORDING TO THE LAST US
CENSUS REPORT, THE SOUTH
KONA POPULATION GREW FROM
85 HUNDRED TO ROUHGLY
10-THOUSAND IN TEN YEARS.
THE KA'U DISTRICT HAS
GROWN BY 26- HUNDRED
PEOPLE WITH THE BOOM
MOSTLY IN OCEAN VIEW
WHERE THE POPULATION
DOUBLED IN JUST THE LAST
TEN YEARS. DRIVING ALONG
HAWAIIAN OCEAN VIEW
ESTATES YOU CAN SEE NEW
HOUSES POP UP ALONG THE
MOUNTAIN SIDE WITH MORE
ON THE WAY JOE TUTTLE
LIVES RIGHT ON AN OLD
FLOW AND EVEN LEARNING
ABOUT THE RENEWED
ACTIVITY AT MAUNA LOA,
HE'S NOT WORRIED. Joe
Tuttle Ocean View
Resident
57:49 I like the lava and
how it is out here it is
nice peaceful and quiet.
In58:09 I try not to
think about it I mean if
it's gonna happen its
gonna happen. I just roll
with everything I'd
actually like to see it
when it happens WHEN
MAUNA LOA DOES ERUPT IT
WILL ALLOW VOLCANOLOGI
STS TO TEST A NEW THEORY
ABOUT THE CORRELATION OF
MAUNA LOA AND KILAUEA. FT
10:15 when one volcano is
very high or frequently
erupting the other one is
very quiet and vise
versa, when muana loa is
erupting, kileuea is
quiet 10:24 going back
and looking at the long
term geological record it
seems that is true 10:31
RIGHT NOW KILAUEA IS
STEALING THE SHOW BUT
PERHAPS NOT FOR LONG FT
In: 12:53 if you look at
the overall robustness of
kileuea's eruption
especially in the last
year or so , its looking
like its starting to
dwindle and mauna loa
showing signs of
awakening time wil tell
whether or not my
hypothesis is valid or
not 13:16 IN THE MEAN
TIME, TRUSDELL AS WELL AS
HAWAII CIVIL DEFENSE SAYS
BIG ISLAND RESIDENTS
SHOULD NEVER FORGET ABOUT
THIS GIANT. FT In: 15: 28
what we're seeing now is
HEY im' still active too
even though kileaua is
over there, I'm still an
active volcano don't'
forget about me .
REPORTING FROM THE BIG
ISLAND, CAM TRAN, KITV4