The shallow strike-slip earthquake was assigned a maximum intensity of IX (Violent) on the Modified Mercalli scale.

As the block continues to stretch at around 10 cm/year seaward, the crust becomes thinner, causing cracks, fissures and a trend of aligning normal faults.

[1] The Kaoiki Pali is an example of a Hilina slump induced normal fault, striking northeast and stretching 25 km (15.5 mi) across the Mauna Loa and Kilauea boundary.

And as these faults rupture, it produces major earthquakes above magnitude 6 that inflict extreme damage and casualties; along with deadly tsunamis and landslides as observed in 1975 and 1868.

[7] The sufficient inflation at the Mauna Loa and Kilauea magma reservoirs had enough parallel horizontal compressional stress to snap the strike-slip faulting regions in-between the slopes.

The zone of aftershocks highlighted an area of Kaoiki from the summit of Mauna Loa to the southeast slope of Kilauea.

There were only a few casualties; 6 individuals received light injuries, which may have been due to the fact that it occurred early in the morning where most people were in bed.

[8] Ground ruptures were prominent in the areas surrounding the epicenter, observed 4 km northeast following the nodal trend.

It stops beyond the expected aftershock zone, which suggests that the elastic release of the last ruptures may have been a result from aseismic deformations of the fault.

These ruptures extend up to heights of 20 m (65.6 ft) with jagged walls hanging with suggested pre-existing joints that were hidden beneath the sediment.