Where is it safe?

[hawaiian]

I do understand that the big island has a active volcano.But where do you think is the safest place to buy land to build a home besides in the city's of Kona and Hilo? I have been looking at the the resent lava flow maps is there any safe place???

[bgiles]

Aloha Hawaiian. Life is a gamble. Driving to the store is a gamble. The last man out of Hawaiian Acres before it was covered with lava noted that he felt that while lava was a danger, Hawaiian Acres had no drive-by shootings. People in the Pacific Northwest were awakened by Mt. St. Helens when she blew her top. If Mt. Baker or Mt. Rainier go, Kalapana would seem to be the safe bet. That said, I love to visit lava zone one and lava zone two, but bought property in lava zone three. Hilo itself is a gamble. With Hawaiian volcanoes it is usually a financial gamble, rather than a life-threatening gamble. Hualalai, sitting above Kona, is NOT extinct. Do you have fire drills in your present house? You should always have an escape plan, but it shouldn't be your main focus. Buy where you enjoy being, but don't turn your back on the ocean(or the mountain!)

bamboo2u

[Carey]

I'm pretty sure that the subdivision was "Royal Gardens", unless something happened in HA last night!

There are lava maps that may help you, but even a seemingly "lava unlikely" area COULD have lava on Hawaii Island (the last lava flow on Maui was in the 1790's...so all of our island is potentially active...

Many forget that 30 years ago, a Mauna Kea eruptive event was heading right at Hilo, stopping only 6mi from the Town area, even closer to the upper homes... and the towns of Hilo & Kona also have tsunami...and...

That said, any area directly on or downhill from a very active volcano rift has a higher potential for a volcanic visitation...

[bananahead]

If you paranoid of lava flows, try Kauai

most of the island is safe, especially compared to Hilo... the most dangerous volcano on this island, Mauna Loa, came within 4.5 miles of Hilo only 30 years ago. And did this at least 4 other times in last 175 years ie 1852, 1855, 1881, 1942...

Kona is not a city (Kailua is the name of the city there), Kona is 2 districts, North Kona and South Kona dist... and has had many lava flows go through it in last 215 years.... ie just above the airport 1801, North Kona dist above Kiholo 1859, Honokua flow through South Kona dist 1950, Kaapuna flow through South Kona dist 1950, Alika flow through South Kona dist 1919, Hoopuloa flow 1918 and 1926, etc.

in other words zone 3-10 are safe (safest is top of island at Hawi on Kohala Mt.), zone 1-2 are less safe... but still the odds are higher your house burns down from an electrical short than by lava ... unless you live in Kalapana/Kaimu, Blaksands, Seaview, Kehena, Kapoho, Ainaloa, or Oceanview (HOVE) in Kau dist

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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha

[bananahead]

....the last flow through Hawaiian Acres was back in the Christopher Columbus days... ie 1400-1500s

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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha

[bgiles]

Ooops. I meant Royal Gardens. Thanks!

bamboo2u

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Hawi area, located on the northwestern part of Big Island is relatively safe from lava flows. It's an older part of the island, and has good soil that has built up over the years as well.

[Bullwinkle]

in perspective all of the Big Island "safe" accounts here of folks having time to move their house out of harms way - or deciding to let it go

the lava flows move so slowly and rarely there is a low personal "safety" risk. (less than the per capita murder risk % in LA I'm willing to bet)

as to the financial statistical risk to property .... That is determined by the insurance kitty or the reserve funds to rebuild (worst case scenario) is the way I looked at it .... opted for lava zone 3 and low premiums

plan for the worst - hope for the best kinda deal

[Carey]

The county Civil Defense has often voiced their main lava safety (as per people, not property) is the SW rift zone of Mauna Kea [ errr...Loa (Thanks KH...can I blame my cat, `Elle Kea, for waling on the keyboard!)]

They have had many planning meetings for that area, trying to make sure all residents are aware of the early eruptive signs & to take immediate and appropriate action for safety.

The reports of the 1950 eruptive event can highlight that... 3 hour flow window for a high volume lava flow to go from rift to ocean.... with the rift opening up along miles...

This is not to say that other areas have any less chance of danger of a lava flow, but with the topography & current flow characteristics of the SW Mauna Loa rift, it has soo much volume & has a history of very fast movement rift to ocean.. and concern for life safety is the main concern for Civil Defense...

[geochem]

quote:

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Originally posted by hawaiian

I do understand that the big island has a active volcano.But where do you think is the safest place to buy land to build a home besides in the city's of Kona and Hilo? I have been looking at the the resent lava flow maps is there any safe place???

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Aloha, hawaiian:
Hawaii is blessed with a greater variety of hazards, and more intense aggregate hazards, than pretty much any place else in the other 49 states. There's no place absolutely safe - but you get to choose your poison. I've listed several sites below that will give you a look at what hazards you are likely to encounter state wide.

This site is a (surprisingly good) site provided by State Civil Defense that allows you to see the current tsunami evacuation maps for Hawaii: http://www.scd.hawaii.gov/
there's quite a bit of other hazard/risk information on this page as well.

For a related risk, storm surge, I wasn't able to find a risk map - probably because the risk is so condition specific (e.g. wind direction, storm intensity) - but this site may be useful: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/pr/hnl/
In general, though, if you are outside of the tsunami evacuation zone you should be "safe".

This one shows the lava flow hazard zones (courtesy of USGS) and explains how the zones were defined: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/hazards/lavazones/main.html

This one shows what could be called an earthquake hazard map for the state - but, as far as I'm aware, doesn't include a characteristic called "site amplification" responsible for much higher damage rates for structures built on soft soils (look up Cypress Structure, Oakland for what happens when you have that process). The relevance to Hawaii is that a home built on deep soils in Hamakua will suffer much more intense earthquake shaking than a similar house built on bedrock in Hilo for the same earthquake.
http://www.fema.gov/earthquake/earthquake-hazard-maps
(Added: for this one as well as others like hurricanes, how well built your house is, makes more of a difference than where it's built.)

This site allows you to look at a parcel's location with respect to the flood hazards. And this one is important for everyone: there is a move - recently described in the news media - to reduce the subsidies provided to homeowners insured under the National Flood Insurance Program - if you are living in a flood prone area, your insurance rates are projected to go ballistic - rates of $30K per year were quoted in the paper. In certain (high) flood risk areas, no insurance, no mortgage.
http://gis.hawaiinfip.org/FHAT/

And this one is the wild card: hurricane risk maps haven't really been developed but this site will show you the hurricane tracks in the central Pacific recorded over the last several decades. The "urban myth" that Hawaii island is protected from hurricane impacts by the high mountains is myth. And all it takes is one Iniki (https://gowiggle.wordpress.com/2010/06/2...ane-iniki/) tracking across Hawaii Island and a lot of people will be crying...
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/met/Faculty/...hurricane/

Then there's vog: http://weather.hawaii.edu/vmap/
If you or your family is prone to asthma, you may want to pay close attention to this one...

and wildland fires: probably best to look at the interactive rainfall maps to get your best idea of where the risks are greatest - although it will vary with season and annual drought intensity: http://rainfall.geography.hawaii.edu/int...vemap.html

Bet you didn't know that living in Paradise was so risky...