In the hectic life of Gov. Linda Lingle, yesterday was going to be unusually easy.

She was on the Big Island, where she attended a Lion's Club lu'au Saturday night after a full day on Moloka'i.

The first official event on her schedule yesterday was to be an afternoon forum with fellow candidates for governor — Democrat Randy Iwase and Green candidate Jim Brewer. So, it was a rare opportunity to sleep in.

Lingle told her security detail to leave her alone; she'd order room service in her fifth-floor room at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, and she'd just enjoy a quiet morning.

Fat chance.

"That was quite a way to wake up," Lingle said late yesterday.

The hotel, Lingle said, was "precisely in alignment of where it (the earthquake) was centered."

Lingle, who spent many years in earthquake-prone California and who endured a fairly severe quake in 1971 while visiting an aunt and uncle in Southern California, knew precisely what to do.

"I knew immediately what this was," she said.

She positioned herself in the doorjamb of the hotel room "just as we were trained" and waited for the shaking to stop. Her security guards, who were next door, were knocking at the door the moment the first episode of shaking stopped.

A big television set had come off the wall and was tossed across the room, Lingle said.

Just as the security officers were attempting to pick up the television set and set things right, the second episode of shaking began. Back to the doorjamb. Once it was clear that the earthquake was over, Lingle and her security guards decided to evacuate the building, walking down five flights of stairs.

The governor quickly made her way to the Kona police station, where she began monitoring events and checking in with her staff in Honolulu.

A Hawai'i National Guard helicopter, normally on assignment to the Drug Enforcement Agency, picked up Lingle and Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Peter Young, who happened to be on the Big Island, so they could make an aerial survey of the region.

Rumors were flying, Lingle said, including one that the Captain Cook monument had been destroyed and another that there was volcanic activity on Hualalai behind Kona. Fortunately, neither rumor proved to be true.

But there was plenty to see, nonetheless.

At Kealakekua Bay, where the Captain Cook monument appeared to be in good shape, a considerable amount of rock and debris had fallen from the cliff and into the bay. Even several hours after the earthquake, she said, rocks were still tumbling into the water.

From the air, Lingle was able to see evacuations of patients from Kona Hospital, which suffered substantial structural damage. Other rumors, including stories of damage to the Kona Wal-Mart and Safeway, appeared to be unfounded, at least as far as Lingle could see from the air.

The helicopter took the governor back to Kona Airport, where a National Guard plane was waiting to take her back to Honolulu.

After a quick check on her cats, who were at home in the governor's residence behind Washington Place, Lingle was off to Civil Defense headquarters, where Lt. Gov. James Aiona had been stationed since early morning.

Although there were no major damage or injuries reported as a result of the quake, Lingle said, the impact of the shaker was substantial.

She called her hosts from the Lion's Club lu'au and was told that virtually everything — "every book, every painting, every TV" — had been tossed around or broken.

Lingle said Hawai'i residents should take yesterday's event as a wake-up call. There will be more earthquakes or natural disasters, and it is important to be prepared in advance, she said. Hawai'i was particularly fortunate that this quake happened 25 miles deep, "far under the surface," where it did not generate a tsunami, she said.

As things began to calm down and power began to come back on around the state, Lingle ended her long Sunday at the Civil Defense headquarters and headed back home to the governor's residence, where she said she intended to spend the rest of the evening finishing a John Irving novel.

By flashlight.

Reach Jerry Burris at jburris@honoluluadvertiser.com.