Kona Earthquake — MACDONALD AND WENTWORTH 
287 
of 6.5 (Gutenberg and Richter, 1949: 207), 
and caused damage as far south as Captain 
Cook. The Maui earthquake on January 23, 
1938, had a magnitude of 6.75, about the 
same as that assigned by the California In- 
stitute of Technology Seismological Labor- 
atory in Pasadena for the earthquake of 
August 21, 1951. During the years from 1929 
to 1945, Gutenberg and Richter (1949, table 
17) list eight earthquakes of magnitude 5 and 
over which originated in the general Hawaiian 
area. During the same interval they list 58 
earthquakes in California with magnitude of 
5 or more and 127 in Japan and Kamchatka. 
Thus, during those years, California had about 
seven times as many large earthquakes as the 
Hawaiian area, and the Japan-Kamchatka area 
had about 16 times as many. However, there 
are some areas, such as the northeastern 
United States, which have far fewer earth- 
quakes than the Hawaiian area. 
Based solely on the 1929-1945 interval, the 
Hawaiian area can expect an average of about 
one earthquake of magnitude 5 or more every 
2 years. However, during the past century, 
there have been only six earthquakes of in- 
tensity comparable to that of August 21, and 
no other appears to have been quite as severe 
in central Kona. There is, of course, no 
assurance that another equally or even more 
severe earthquake might not occur in that 
area in much less time than a century. It 
might occur within the next few months, but, 
judging from the past, that is quite unlikely. 
Well-built structures, with footings of bet- 
ter quality than many of those now found in 
Kona, will minimize or even eliminate the 
damage resulting from the lesser earthquakes 
which the Kona area experiences frequently 
in common with all the island of Hawaii 
except the northernmost part. However, it 
may not be economically feasible to build 
in such a way as to eliminate damage from 
the infrequent large earthquakes. 
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Byerly, P. 1942. Seismology. 256 pp. Prentice 
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Dana, J. D. 1890. Characteristics of volcanoes. 
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Gutenberg, B., and C. F. Richter. 1949. 
Seismicity of the earth and associated pheno- 
mena. viid-273 pp. Princeton University 
Press, Princeton. 
Imamura, a. 1937. Theoretical and applied 
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Jones, A. E. 1935. Hawaiian travel times. 
Seismol. Soc. Amer., Bui. 25: 33-61. 
Richter, C. F. 1935. An instrumental earth- 
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Stearns, H. T., and G. A. Macdonald. 
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Wood, H. O. 1914. On the earthquakes of 
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