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HONOLULU, April 14
Hawaii joins Japan, Russia, (Kuril islands) Fiji, New Zealand as places that recorded a moderate earthquake of 5.0 or more on Tuesday April 14th.
Earthquakes were also felt in Alaska, California, Peru, Puerto Rico.
It's been an active week for earthquakes worldwide with Indonesia, India and Italy recording significant recent earthquake activity this week.
Last week's deadly earthquake in Central Italy was measured at 6.7 with several hundred deaths. Italy has reported over 10,000 aftershocks since with Monday's largest aftershock measured at over 5.0.
Hawaii's Tuesday quake measured 5.1 on the Richter scale, the U.S. Geological Survey reported with no injuries or damage reported.
Hawaii is located in the center of the "Ring Of Fire" and although frequently reports small earthquakes related to geothermal and volcanic activity patterns, this quake was larger then average.
The quake measured 5.1 on the Richter scale, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. While that is large enough to cause significant damage when buildings are badly constructed, the quake occurred in the Hawaii National Park, an area with few structures or human inhabitants.
The epicenter was 27 miles from Hilo on Hawaii and 218 miles southeast of Honolulu on the island of Oahu. The nearest settlement to the epicenter, Volcano, which has 2,200 inhabitants, is 9 miles to the north.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that no warning was issued for a tsunami in any of the earthquakes for April 14th.
While some earthquakes and volcanos are in rural or uninhabited areas, such as the Kuril islands. The earthquake in Italy reported damage and deaths and has disrupted many lives. Recent volcanic activity from Mt. Redout eruption in Alaska caused flight cancelations due to atmospheric conditions. Vog from the Kileaua vent causes chronic health problems and agriculture loss on the Big Island. Hawaii's earthquake several years ago caused damage and road closures related to landslides and bridge failures along Maui's hana rural highway.
The U.S. Geological Survey will invest millions of federal stimulus dollars in Hawaii and Alaska for volcano monitoring weeks after the Mount Redoubt eruption.
The agency will use $15.2 million to modernize five systems, said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar yesterday. The monitoring will improve warnings for the public and airlines, as scientists provided months before Alaska's Mount Redoubt eruption in March.
Hawaii Democratic U.S. Sens. Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye said that Hawaii knows how critically important volcano monitoring is because of Big Island volcanic eruptions.
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