Trent Kirk of Charlotte woke up at 4 a.m. Sunday on his first morning on Hawaii's Big Island, jolted out of bed by the disorientation caused by a long flight and a five-hour time difference.

Had he slept three more hours, Kirk probably would have been jolted awake by the earthquake a few miles northwest.

Instead, the triathlete was making eggs in his condominium in Kona when he felt a little tremble.

And then a bigger one.

Then a lamp fell and broke.

"I was like, I need to get out of here," he said.

Kirk, a 30-year-old lawyer, is one of two Charlotteans racing in Saturday's Ironman World Championships. Kirk said the other Charlotte resident, Nick Frank, was also unhurt.

On Oahu, Chuck and Cindy Fiello of China Grove were sitting down to breakfast in their Waikiki Beach hotel on the first morning of a trip to celebrate their 35th anniversary.

"Everything started moving and it was really kind of a shock," Chuck Fiello said.

Besides a lack of power -- and an inability to use credit cards or ATMs -- Waikiki was calm.

"It was really surprising," Chuck Fiello said. "Everybody just took it kind of, OK."