JCMT Status After 15 October Earthquake as of 2006-10-27

Dear colleague,

Many thanks to all who have expressed concern about the magnitude 6.7 earthquake (plus aftershocks) that rocked the island on the morning of Sunday, October 15. At the time of the earthquake, the telescope had been closed after a full night's observing. Power was lost for about 7 hours. No observing was attempted Sunday night. Monday showed no apparent structural damage except for a few loose items on the floor in some labs. The roof and doors could be opened and closed, and the building rotated without incident. No damage to any instrumentation or computers, although HARP had warmed up.

Foul weather over the next few nights prevented any observing, but most systems appeared to be operational, and when the weather did finally clear, the telescope and systems were found to be fully functional and operational. We were indeed fortunate, and other observatories were not so lucky.

At the time of the earthquake, the telescope was obtaining inclinometry data. Click here for a plot of the "tilt" of the telescope during the earthquake and aftershocks.

The Hilo office is functioning normally. It was inspected on Sunday and there was no apparent structural damage. There have been no reports of any injuries to staff or serious loss or damage to homes or property.

UKIRT also suffered no significant damage. Click here for a report.

Regards,
Gerald Schieven
Acting Head of Operations
2006-10-27