We are okay! Thanks to those of you who asked. The quake has been upgraded (then, downgraded and upgraded again) to a 6.6. The epicenter of the quake was about 10 miles from here so we were pretty much on top of it, but the rest of the islands felt it too. I’ve lived in California my entire life and had to move to Hawaii to feel the strongest earthquake I’ve ever felt. Go figure.

We were all sleeping when it hit and dh & I had time to wake up, process that we were having an earthquake, get out of bed and into a doorway, and ride it for awhile. The kids were upstairs in bed. It was SO loud that they couldn’t hear us yelling to get into a doorway. Of course, we’ve discussed these safety concepts, but putting it into practice is different, you know? They ended up staying in bed - hanging on so they wouldn’t fall out and watching stuff come crashing off their bookshelves - thankfully far enough away from them that they weren’t in danger. It sounded like a freight train was driving through the house and the shaking - oy. When we lived in Sonoma County the Loma Prieta quake was very rolling. This was violent, violent shaking. Never felt anything like it!

This is the first time I’ve ever been in a quake that left “remains”. The stuff on the kids’ bookshelves all fell off, a pipe on the hot water heater broke, cups fell off the counter and the appliances all shifted by about 6″. We’ve been without power until about an hour ago and we were without water for awhile.

Elsewhere, there are lots of boulders on the roads and mud slides. The Hamakua coast road is open but slow going, with some possible bridge damage. The resorts have evacuated the guests and flights have been canceled. TVs crashed to the floor, lots of broken glass, and there is word that the roofs of Walmart and Safeway sustained damage, though it’s not clear how bad it is. The power has been out statewide (something that seems amazing to me). The hospital in Kona has been evacuated because of structural damage. Most incredibly is that so far there haven’t been any fatalities or serious injuries. Let’s hope that fact remains at the end of the day.

 edited to add: Now it’s been upgraded to a 6.7