Earthquake Hawaii Today: Live Map and Latest Quakes

Key context

What is normal in Hawaii

Over the 30 years 1996-2025, USGS recorded 4,664 earthquakes of M3 or more in Hawaii: about 156 a year, or 13 a month. The past 12 months had 107, about 31% fewer than the 30-year average. Quakes of M6 or more average 0.1 a year here (4 in 30 years), and 1 one happened in the past 12 months.

Busy years usually mean one large quake and its aftershocks: the peak year here was 2018 with 2,150. Counts cover the Hawaiian Islands and the surrounding sea. They come from the USGS ComCat catalog, which records small quakes more completely in the US than elsewhere, so compare like with like.

Largest earthquakes recorded in Hawaii

Plates and faults

Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Plate, far from any plate boundary. Its quakes come from the volcanoes: magma moving under Kilauea and Mauna Loa, and the enormous weight of the volcanoes, which pushes the south flank of the Big Island slowly seaward.

That flank produced the M7.7 Kalapana quake and tsunami in 1975 and the M6.9 quake during the 2018 Kilauea eruption. Most Hawaii quakes are small and clustered on the Big Island; the older islands to the north-west have far fewer.

• Kilauea south flank (Hilina fault system)
• Kilauea summit and rift zones
• Mauna Loa and its rift zones
• Ka'oiki fault zone (between Kilauea and Mauna Loa)
• Mauna Kea and Kohala deep quakes

Where the recent quakes were

Of the 30 quakes of the past 30 days, 30 were shallow (less than 70 km deep), 0 intermediate (70-300 km) and 0 deep (more than 300 km). 0 reached M4 or more. The places USGS named most often were Volcano, Hawaii (7), Pāhala, Hawaii (5), Honaunau-Napoopoo, Hawaii (4).

Official sources and warnings

• USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO): monitors Kilauea, Mauna Loa and Hawaii's quakes.
• Pacific Tsunami Warning Center: tsunami warnings for Hawaii.
• Hawaii Emergency Management Agency: state emergency alerts and sirens.

What to do in an earthquake

If you feel shaking: Drop, Cover and Hold On until it stops. Stay away from windows and heavy furniture, and do not run outside during the shaking. On a coast, strong or long shaking is a natural tsunami warning: move to high ground or inland at once, on foot if you can. Then follow your local officials; this page is not a warning service.

In Hawaii, Drop, Cover and Hold On. If you feel strong or long shaking near the coast, move inland or uphill at once, and follow the outdoor sirens and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.