Kapoho, Hawaii was a town in Puna district

Puna, Hawaii

Puna is one of the nine districts in Hawaii County, Big Island, Hawaii. The District of Puna is located on the easternmost portion of the island and shares borders to the north with the District of South Hilo and a border to the west with the District of Kaū...

, Hawaii County

Hawaii County, Hawaii

Hawaii County is a county located in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Islands. It is coterminous with the Island of Hawaii, often called the "Big Island" to distinguish it from the state as a whole. As of the 2010 Census the population was 185,079. The county seat is Hilo. There are no...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, located near the eastern tip of the island of Hawaii

Hawaii (island)

The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the North Pacific Ocean...

, in the easternmost end of the graben

Graben

In geology, a graben is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults. Graben is German for ditch. Graben is used for both the singular and plural....

 overlying Kīlauea

Kilauea

Kīlauea is a volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, and one of five shield volcanoes that together form the island of Hawaii. Kīlauea means "spewing" or "much spreading" in the Hawaiian language, referring to its frequent outpouring of lava. The Puu Ōō cone has been continuously erupting in the eastern...

's east rift zone

Rift zone

A rift zone is a feature of some volcanoes, especially the shield volcanoes of Hawaii, in which a linear series of fissures in the volcanic edifice allows lava to be erupted from the volcano's flank instead of from its summit...

.

Eruption of January 1960

On January 12, 1960 residents of Kapoho experienced over 1000 small earthquakes shaking the area. Deep cracks opened up in the street, and there are historic photos of residents inspecting the damage.

The eruption began on the night of the 13th, spilling lava out in the middle of a sugar cane field just above Kapoho. Although the main flow of lava flowed into the ocean, a slow-moving offshoot crept towards the town of Kapoho. Despite frantic efforts to divert the flow with earthen barricades or to harden it by spraying water on it, on January 28 the flow entered and buried the town. Nearly 100 homes and businesses as well as a hot spring

Hot spring

A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...

 resort were destroyed. The Cape Kumukahi Light

Cape Kumukahi Light

The Cape Kumukahi Light is a lighthouse on the easternmost point of Hawaii. It is best known for its survival through an eruption of Kilauea in 1960.-History:Requests for a lighthouse on the cape, the easternmost point of the island chain, began in 1905...

 east of the town was spared and continues in operation, but the keeper's dwellings were destroyed.

Kapoho Today

There has been no lava activity in Kapoho now for over 50 years. While the original town is gone, the name Kapoho remains associated with the area. Today, the natural tide pools, black sand beach, and warm hot springs help make Kapoho an attractive spot to live and tourists to visit. Owing to these two factors, Kapoho, is the most expensive area to live in Puna with many homes costing over $1,000,000.

External links

• The 1960 Kapoho Eruption of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaii at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
  Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
  The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is a volcano observatory located at Uwekahuna Bluff on the rim of Kīlauea Caldera on the Island of Hawaii. The observatory monitors four active Hawaiian volcanoes: Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, Hualālai, and Haleakalā...
  
  website