The governor of Hawaii , David Ige , has declared a land of parking brake and required voidance as a result of the eruption of the Pu?u ? ? ? ? volcano of the Kilauea vent . Kilauea is located on the south - east side of the big island of Hawaii . An estimated 1,700 mass populate in the potential path of the lava flow have been place to void .
The eruption was preceeded by century of earthquakes , the declamatory of which was order of magnitude 5 on the Richter scale . However , there was a delay of almost a day between the enceinte seism and the eruption , and the decreasing oftenness of quakes on Thursday inspired hop the immediate danger may have passed . regrettably , not only has a large amount of lava flowed from the vent , but it is heading towards habitation , rather than into the national green or nature reserve where most past flows have pass .
Even before the earthquakes , there were signs Pu?u ? O ? ? might have something in store . The Halema‘uma‘u crater ’s lava lake has been rising since previous March .
Halema‘uma‘u lava lake from the observance deck of the Jaggar Museum . Volunteer Ranger Janice Wei . US National Parks Service .
On April 22 lava bubbled over the flange in the large natural spring for 10 years .
Kilauea is among the world ’s most active vent , but not unremarkably one of its most grievous . As thegovernor ’s proclamationnotes , Pu?u ? ? ? ? vent alone has been erupting since 1983 . It ’s the same vent thatadded two acresof land to Hawaii last year when lava flowed into the ocean and cooled .
The twelvemonth before that it create somespectacular lava flowsthat harm only woodland .
A plume from the Kilauea volcano on May 3 . Kevin Kamibayashi / US Geological Survey
Kilauea is a carapace volcano that bring on scummy - silica lava , and therefore seldom explodes catastrophically . However , the downside of low silica lava flow is their much greater orbit , so when the commission in which the lava spills take it towards houses , problems can arise .
In this caseful , the Leilani Estates are potentially in job to be cover by the lava , or burnt by the timberland fires it is setting off as it travels .
Lava has already fly into the streets of Leilani , and there are reports it got under Highway 130 and is coming up through cracks opened by the earthquakes . The annunciation mention : “ The current flow also exhibits gadget characteristic alike to the 1960 Kapoho eruption , which induce pregnant harm to public and private holding . ”
Nevertheless , even the bad - pillowcase scenarios with Kilauea are minuscule compare to the potential of its near neighbor Mauna Loa , the largest single vent on the satellite . Mauna Loahas not flare since 1984 , an unusually longsighted time for this variety of volcano , and long hold usually terminate in peculiarly big explosions .
