The temblors — magnitudes 6.7 and 6.0 — struck early Oct. 15, changing a typically lazy fall Sunday into a big Big Island moment in history.

While many still are shoring up their lives, county authorities, educators, scientists and volunteer groups have begun a campaign of preparedness.

The county Civil Defense Agency, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and the University of Hawaii's Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes are presenting a series of seminars designed to ease the stress of living on the Big Island.

Monetary damage from the quake could never be tallied accurately, said Troy Kindred, civil defense administrator. Even a ballpark figure is "not worth the breath from my lungs," he said.

"Every one of us lives on an island that has the potential to kill you," Kindred told two dozen Waikoloa residents who gathered for a preparedness session last week.

"Hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, high surf - they can all be dangerous," he said. "We can learn from what has happened, but we are not smarter than Mother Nature."

Kindred said the county is taking steps to implement additional warning and safety features, but residents also have to pitch in and stay informed.

"Learn about the hazards you live with and what to do," he said. "It makes the community more resilient if you take care of business at home."

For example, he urged residents to plan for power and telephone service outages, prepare an emergency supply kit, know evacuation procedures and flip on the radio when disaster strikes.

Some communication systems failed on Oct. 15, leaving residents across the island with little idea of what was happening. Radio, television and telephone service blinked on and off.

The county heard the resulting criticism and earmarked $325,000 to provide every radio station on the island with an emergency generator.

"It's how we talk to you," he said. "We are aiming for total power redundancy for all stations and we'll do the maintaining and testing of the generators."

But whatever systems are in place, Kindred said, they still could fail.

"That's why people should be educated about the hazards," he said. "If they are informed, it really takes some of the shock and fear out of it."

Jim Kauahikaua, volcano observatory scientist-in-charge, flipped through dozens of color slides, explaining the mechanics of the Oct. 15 earthquakes and the hundreds of aftershocks.

It still is typical to be experiencing one or two aftershocks that top magnitude 4.0 each week in the area off the island's northwest shore, he said.

"The good news is the aftershocks are dropping in number, but the bad news is the magnitude really isn't" Kauahikaua said. "There was nothing unusual about this earthquake. They happen all the time."

The most unusual aspect was the time since the last magnitude 6.0 occurred around the Big Island. That 17-year period was the longest recorded since 1823.

Scientists forecast the chance of a 6.0 Big Island earthquake in any given 20-year span at 63 percent and a near certain 97 percent for each period of 50 years.

Kauahikaua said almost every quake simulation has shown damage in the places hardest hit last fall, from Kona north along the Kohala Coast and east across Hamakua.

Those areas feature more ashy soil, he said, which is good for agriculture but bad for people experiencing an earthquake.

The southern and eastern regions of the island typically lie atop more rocky lava, which is less prone to shaking.

Ohana Quake Outreach program director Shari Berman said she attended the seminar to help residents still shaken by the temblors that registered on seismographs from Oregon to Maine and continues to cough up a handful of aftershocks each week.

"The preparedness really is a comfort to people," she said. "The reality is we live in a place with a myriad hazards. I'm happy to see all this happen. It does help."

Program volunteers have spoken to approximately 2,000 people, as well as another 600 preschoolers and 79 school staff members.

On the Net:

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: http://hvo.wr.usgs

Hawaii County Civil Defense: www.hawaii-county.com/directory/dir—defense.htm

Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes: www.uhh.hawaii.edu/

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