The October 5, 1929 earthquake

M6.5Hualālai area, Hawaii

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake, centred in Hawaii County. The 7th strongest in Hawaii’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles in the catalogue, which runs from 1900.

The earthquake

Magnitude
6.5
surface-wave magnitude (ms)
Depth
—
Not recorded
Local time
Saturday, October 5, 1929
21:21 HST; 07:51 UTC on Oct 6, 1929
Epicentre
19.75°N, 156.00°W
In Hawaii County
In Hawaii’s record
7th
strongest of 39,637 since 1900
Within 50 miles
1
county; more on this date

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event ushis822 (“Hualālai area, Hawaii”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.

Counties and cities within 50 miles

Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.

Counties

Earthquakes around the epicentre

1,799 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.

Earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of the epicentre, by year 1973: 58 1974: 106 1975: 130 130 1976: 37 1977: 42 1978: 44 1979: 53 1980: 55 1981: 39 1982: 58 1983: 94 1984: 45 1985: 35 1986: 23 1987: 42 1988: 74 1989: 28 1990: 24 1991: 30 1992: 23 1993: 16 1994: 5 1995: 5 1996: 10 1997: 30 1998: 76 1999: 29 2000: 9 2001: 14 2002: 7 2003: 9 2004: 8 2005: 11 2006: 42 2007: 18 2008: 11 2009: 10 2010: 19 2011: 18 2012: 21 2013: 17 2014: 19 2015: 22 2016: 34 2017: 30 2018: 64 2019: 29 2020: 26 2021: 33 2022: 47 2023: 28 2024: 21 2025: 21 19731978198319881993199820032008201320182023

Earlier earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles, strongest first

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.