Hawaii's Kilauea erupts in area calm since 1974

"People just need to realize this is in one of the safest places it could have happened," said Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth

(Image credit: M. Zoeller / US Geological Survey / Handout / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

published 4 June 2024

What happened

Hawaii's Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, began erupting Monday in a remote area of Volcano National Park that had not seen volcanic activity in half a century.

A major Kilauea eruption in 2018 destroyed hundreds of homes, but the volcano has since "gone away from a period of steady eruptions," USGS geophysicist Michael Poland told The New York Times. These days it has "discrete, usually shortish eruptions happening in several different places." The last eruption in the region of Monday's event was in late 1974, and it "lasted only about 6 hours," Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency officials said to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

"People just need to realize this is in one of the safest places it could have happened," Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said. "Absolutely no property in danger."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.