LA TIMES: Quake Damaged Historic Sites

Hawaiian temple walls, a palace and other structures were harmed in Sunday's temblor.

By Sam Howe Verhovek, Times Staff Writer
October 18, 2006

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Resorts, airports and much else about Hawaiian life were back to normal Tuesday, two days after a magnitude-6.7 earthquake struck just off the island of Hawaii. But for some of the Big Island's most historic — and fragile — structures, the effects of the quake were not so quickly overcome.

"We didn't fare well at all," said Fanny AuHoy, administrator of the two-story Hulihe'e Palace, built of coral, lava rock and native wood in 1838 for the Hawaiian royal family. "This building has withstood other earthquakes, hurricanes and big storms. But this damage is really bad."Huge cracks were evident inside and outside, and several large chunks of plaster had fallen from the ceilings of the palace. Run by the Daughters of Hawaii, it includes items dating back to what some native Hawaiians call "pre-contact days" — or the time before Westerners arrived.

The palace was among a dozen or so historic structures, all on the Big Island, where major damage from the quake was reported. "We were very relieved that there was no loss of life" in the quake, said Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of the Historic Hawaii Foundation, a Honolulu-based nonprofit that is tracking the damage. But, added Faulkner, "we are concerned about the loss of the historic fabric in west Hawaii Island." Moreover, she said, "we are urging people not to make any hasty decisions about demolition or replacement."

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