A SEXUALLY-BROKEN HYMEN IS NOT ALLOWED.
*I AM REPRESNTED BY:THE ROSE.
*I AM LIKENED UNTO:MARY MAGDELENE.
■NO.TO ANY OF THERE BEING AN: IRIS II.
■NO.IRIS II.
■No.iris ii.
■&this is the final answer.
ii=II
Earthquake of 6.6 Magnitude Shakes Hawaii
HONOLULU, Oct. 15 — A sizable earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 rippled through the Hawaii islands today, shaking residents and tourists from their sleep, knocking out electrical power to several of the islands and setting off a landslide that rained boulders and other debris on the major highway on the largest island.
The United States Geological Survey said that there were at least a dozen aftershocks, including one that measured 5.8 magnitude. Officials said the quake was the largest to hit the Hawaiian islands since 1983, when a magnitude 6.7 quake struck.
Gov. Linda Lingle issued a disaster declaration this afternoon and activated the National Guard, which happened to be conducting a statewide drill this weekend. The governor ordered her cabinet to convene at the Hawaii State Department of Civil Defense headquarters, which is located in Diamondhead crater in Honolulu, the state capital on the island of Oahu.
There were no reports of any deaths, but scores of unconfirmed reports of injuries. The governor said there was widespread damage to buildings and roads. Kona Community Hospital on the Big Island of Hawaii sustained significant damage, and patients were moved to the Sheraton Keauhou hotel, officials said.
The lack of electricity hampered communications and officials could not say exactly how severe the damage was or the extent of injuries.
The biggest quake today, which was centered just off the northwest shore of the Big Island of Hawaii, occurred at 7:07 a.m. local time, officials said. That side of the island contains Kohala, a popular resort area. This quake was initially estimated at a 6.3 magnitude but was later upgraded to 6.6 magnitude by the United States Geological Survey.
The quake and its aftershocks immediately set off fears of a tsunami. But the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a report saying that “no tsunami is expected,” although officials at the center warned of the possibility of significant wave activity in Hawaii.
Power was knocked out for hours in many areas, but by mid-afternoon it has been restored to Hilo on the Big Island and to parts of Maui.
Leonid Citer, 50, a photographer from Wayne, N.J., said in a telephone interview that he was on his way to photograph a wedding in Kona, Hawaii, when the quake hit. He said he pulled to the side of the road when he felt the shock and debris began to rain down on the road.
“There are rocks and fruit all over the road,” he said. “There are police and firemen at all the major intersections and they were instructing people to go up as high as they can elevation-wise and they are advising them to stay away from the shore.”
Emergency management officials also urged residents and others to stay put if they could, to keep roadways open for emergency vehicles.
Beth Chapman, who co-stars with her husband, Duane, on the A&E cable reality series “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” said she was at their home in the Portlock section of Oahu when the quakes hit.
“There were two quakes, one at 7:08 this morning and the second one at 7:12,” she said in telephone interview. “I know because the clock stopped when the second one came.”
“I was outside for the second one and you could hear this strange noise coming from the ocean,” Ms. Chapman said. “Then the ground shook and there was a huge wave in our swimming pool.”
Airports across the islands switched to emergency backup systems, which allowed inbound flights to land and a few outbound planes to depart. By midday, all flights out of the airports on Honolulu and Maui were canceled, as were flights to Hawaii from the United States mainland.
At the airports still in operation, security officials were forced to check luggage manually and agriculture agents used dogs to sniff packages and luggage because X-ray machines were darkened.
Officials asked cruise ships to keep guests on board, and cruise ships hoping to make landfall in Hawaii were asked to head to their next location to dock.
“We’re are dealing with a lot of scared people,” Harry Kim, mayor of the Big Island of Hawaii, said in a televised interview on KITV.
Governor Lingle was on the Big Island, staying at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, when the quake rattled the building.
“It shook very strongly and knocked the televisions off the bureaus in the hotel,” she said in an interview on KSSK Radio, one of the few broadcast outlets that was not knocked off the air. “TV’s fell, books fell, mirrors fell off the wall.”
Insurance industry experts said early reports suggested relatively light damage to homes and businesses, and they said the heaviest costs to the economy of Hawaii could result from electric power outages in Honolulu and on other islands.
The insurers offered no immediate estimates on overall economic damage, but Robert P. Hartwig, chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, said that payouts for damage from insurance companies for the earthquake today would probably be “very modest,” perhaps less than $25 million, compared with $1.1 billion for one of the least costly hurricanes last year, Hurricane Dennis, which slammed into the Florida Panhandle in June 2005.
The most costly earthquake in the United States, the North Ridge earthquake, just outside Los Angeles in 1994, cost the insurers up to an estimated $26 billion in today’s dollars. It was measured 6.7 magnitude. By comparison, last year, the insurers paid out $41 billion for damage from Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Hartwig said that probably no more than 25 percent of homeowners in Hawaii and less than 50 percent of businesses had purchased special policies that pay for earthquake damage. Most damage from blackouts is not covered, he said.
“Right now, it does not look like there is substantial structural damage or major fires,” he said. “And it looks like very modest costs to insurers. It could turn out to be higher if there is considerable damage to foundations and walls that is not immediately obvious.”
ADVERTISEMENT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.