Underexposed...: How I Survived The Hawaii Earthquake

I went outside.

Of course I'm on Maui which is one island over from the epicenter. Most of the real damage was over on the big island. By the time the shaking hit our side of Maui I think it was losing a lot of its energy.

First the condo shook a little bit. It felt like someone had started digging up the ground right behind our building with some heavy machinery. So I was slightly annoyed because it was way too early to do that on a Sunday morning. But I was also curious because there was something not quite right about how it felt. But when the rhythmic rumbling quickened into a strong shaking and the floor and windows started rattling, I recognized that we were in an earthquake.

I hollered over to my beautiful wife "OK, let's go" and darted out the bedroom and down the stairs and into the courtyard. Most of the other residents of this little complex were standing around wide-eyed. It lasted a total of maybe 15 seconds.

An aftershock hit a few minutes later that wasn't bad. Minimal damage in the condo. We did find out from a battery powered radio where the quake hit and that there was no threat of a tsunami. The power was out for about three hours so we couldn't eat at home and couldn't eat at restaurants.

There was a little place grilling chicken with a gas spit that was making a killing down in the town of Kihei. Every tourist and local wanted to get a grilled chicken dish but the line was about 150 - 200 people deep so most of us just kinda wandered and hoped the power would come back on.