Mark McKenzie Felt a Little Shaky in Hawaii
Posted on Oct. 25, 2006
Mark McKenzie, LAc, MOm, dean of the Minnesota College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, recently returned from a trip to Hawaii that had an interesting twist: at 7:07 a.m. on Oct. 15, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake shook the Hawaiian Islands.
“It was a rockin’ good time,” McKenzie laughs.
McKenzie was in Hawaii visiting the Traditional Chinese Medicine College of Hawaii on the Big Island as a site visitor for the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. He was in his hotel room about 20 miles from the quake’s epicenter when it hit. The earthquake was the first he has experienced.
“It was bizarre,” he says. “It was strange for something you consider so solid to move like that.”
According to the state of Hawaii, the earthquake was the strongest to hit the Hawaiian Islands in more than two decades. Forty-three people were injured; most injuries were minor. The quake was centered under the ocean off the northwest coast of Hawaii’s Big Island and was felt on all the major islands. A 5.8-magnitude quake followed seven minutes later and numerous smaller aftershocks were registered over the next few hours.