2. Hilo, Hawaii
Good morning. I come from Hilo, Hawaii, a beautiful city on Hilo Bay that is often referred to as the “Tsunami Capital of the World”. You won’t know and understand Hilo unless you know its tsunami history.

3. 1946
1960
Two major tsunamis in the matter of fourteen years, one in 1946 and another in 1960 ravaged the city and set in motion legislation to take drastic action and relocate the industrial and residential areas adjacent to Hilo Bay to a tsunami safe zone. These were years of upheaval and change as a sleepy little town, heavily dependent on fishing and sugar, moved on with their lives.
Map by Tsunami Memorial Institute and D.A. Walker

4. Most residents had few resources of money, time and energy other than to rebuild their lives, homes and businesses. The strong work ethic and willingness to sacrifice and be self sufficient rang strong through the community. People spent very little time talking and commiserating about their plight, and yet those two tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 were defining moments in the personal histories that they would share with their family and close friends.

5. Pacific Tsunami Museum Founders Dr. Walter Dudley and Jeanne Johnston
It was in such an occasional “talk story moment” between Jeanne Johnson and her friends that the thought emerged that this was valuable information that should be preserved and passed on to the next generation. “This was history we should learn from”, they said. Coinciding with this insightful moment was the publication of the first edition of Tsunami by Dr. Walter Dudley, a University of Hawaii at Hilo professor, in which he illustrated the science of tsunamis with actual accounts he and his partner Min Lee had gathered from the Hilo community. On the last page he invited people to send him their stories. Jeanne went one step further and went to meet with him and thus was born the idea that there should be a tsunami museum. So we credit Jeanne Johnson and Dr. Walter Dudley as the founders of the Pacific Tsunami Museum.

6. Their idea was brought to fruition by a committee of community members who shared their dream. They organized a non-profit organization and a board of directors who called their first meeting on October 4, As fate would have it, the meeting had to be postponed due to an earthquake in the Kuril Islands sending everyone into a statewide tsunami evacuation mode. This was an auspicious omen indeed that strengthened the mission of the museum to provide needed tsunami education and awareness. And so, we use October 4, 1994 as our anniversary date.

7. Pacific Tsunami Museum
The Pacific Tsunami Museum is governed by a board of directors made up of members of the community and managed by an executive director. The museum is located at 130 Kamehameha Avenue, right on beautiful Hilo Bay in a tsunami inundation zone. The building is a historic art deco structure designed in 1931 as a bank by noted architect Charles Dickey.

8. Donation of First Hawaiian Bank Building to Pacific Tsunami Museum
In 1997 owner First Hawaiian Bank gifted it to the Pacific Tsunami Museum. Our location always raises the suitability of locating a tsunami museum in a tsunami zone. The building is valued over a million dollars and was a gift we just could not turn down. To that end, all original and valuable records are stored in a safe site outside the tsunami zone, and we live with the philosophy we preach, have an evacuation plan and are prepared.
New Hawaiian Island in 10,000 to 100,000 years

9. Museum in lovely historic downtown Hilo
In truth, the location of the museum in the midst of the surviving vintage buildings that comprises old Hilo town makes the tsunami museum a very real live-in experience. Couple this with visitors who come to Hilo and East Hawaii to experience nature: the active volcanoes, the rainforests and the search for the stars in our astronomy complex on the mountain, the museum adds to the authenticity that is found no where else in the islands.
Kilauea Crater in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Rainbow Falls in Hilo

10. Museum visitors in 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami exhibit
We average 18,000 visitors yearly with a quarter of them being foreign visitors. As a non-profit organization we rely on admission fees, memberships, donations and volunteer services to remain open to the public six days a week. Through solicitation of special grants we fund museum programs, new exhibits, and expeditions to collect oral histories.

11. Tsunami Generation
Every visitor to the museum should come away with the basic knowledge of how tsunamis are generated, how they travel, how they have impacted the Hawaiian Islands, especially the city of Hilo, and the basics of our warning system.

12. Educating the public through docent and group presentations
We believe that through education and awareness no one should ever again die in Hawaii due to a tsunami. We provide this education, not only in scientific terms, but most dramatically through the stories and first hand accounts of the tsunami survivors. A dedicated group of docents most of whom have had first hand experiences with the tsunamis that have ravaged and transformed Hilo provide that authenticity for the visitors to the museum. We also provide talks to different groups, including school groups, tourists, seniors, and others.

13. When Tsunamis Reach Shore
Crest of wave coming in first – water floods
We also place a special emphasis educating our visitors that should they see an abnormal recession of the water or an abnormal surge in of the water to recognize it as the first of a series of waves and the imperative need to get away or up high because bigger waves will follow. In the summer of 2004 a group of visiting teachers from the Atlantic coast visited the museum and I shared this with them. Upon their return home one of the teachers shared this with a friend who was on the beach at Phuket on December 26th, She remembered what she had been told and warned others around her. They all made it to safety.
Trough of wave coming in first – water recedes
Photos from PTM Archives

14. Hilo Bay coastline with open spaces
The reconfiguration of Hilo from a densely populated seaport city of businesses and homes to an expanse of open space and recreational facilities along Hilo Bay is not so much highlighted in the museum as experienced by visitors who come to Hilo. The Hilo Bay coastline is in sharp contrast to other urban shorelines in the state where economic development and homes hug the shoreline.
What is left of old Hilo are four blocks of buildings fronting the ocean that have been given a reprieve from tsunamis. The ambience of the town is definitely one of bygone days of old Hawaii. Zoning laws specifications, and prohibitive flood insurance premiums have kept development at bay. What is left of Hilo is in a kind of time warp, while the rest of Hilo Bay is primarily a playground for soccer, rugby, Frisbee, Pop Warner football, and canoe paddling.

15. Museum Scientific Advisors
Key to the museum’s credibility is the Scientific Advisory Board chaired by Dr. Walter Dudley. They provide oversight and develop the content for the exhibits and proof all scientific materials and publications of the museum. In addition to Dr. Dudley the Scientific Advisory Board includes George Curtis who is renowned for his work in tsunami modeling and serves as in an advisory capacity to the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency, and Dr. Dan Walker, also retired from the University of Hawaii who has produced educational materials through the Tsunami Memorial Institute (TMI). Through Dr. Dudley, a strong collegial bond exists with Dr. James Goff Tsunami Research Centre in Australia, who has also collaborated on several museum projects
George Curtis
Dr. Walter Dudley

16. International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC)
The International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC) in Honolulu provides educational materials and as a disaster training center for the Pacific region, they utilize the museum as part of their educational programs for visiting hazard management personnel.

17. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
The museum is also partnering with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in a program to visit every public and private school in the state that is located in tsunami inundation areas to do student presentations and to provide overall advice and consultation to the school officials on tsunami preparedness and evacuation procedures. Hawaii State Civil Defense participates by providing funding for travel.
Image from

18. Tsunami Museums in India and Thailand
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has funded expeditions over the last five years that have taken Dr. Dudley and a museum crew to document survivor stories of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Banda Aceh, and the Maldives. Materials collected from these visits were used to develop exhibits at the Pacific Tsunami Museum and to fabricate two little sister exhibits in Ranong, Thailand and Kerala, India.

19. Water line on a house with a dock piling Seward, Alaska 1964
Aufaga, Samoa 2009
NOAA, also funded grants for Dr. Dudley to research indigenous stories of Hawaii relating to tsunamis, to document the survivor stories of the 1964 earthquake and tsunami in Alaska. The USGS provided funding for him to interview survivors of the Sept. 29,2009 tsunami in Samoa and American Samoa.
PTM Oliver Amend Collection

20. Essay Contest
The first major activity the museum embarked on in its first year of operation was to gather oral histories of tsunami survivors. The museum sponsored a highly publicized essay contest for school children entitled “Do You Have a Tsunami Story to Tell?” This was already 50 years after the 1946 tsunami, and as children solicited stories from their grandparents and neighbors, amazing stories were submitted and shared for the first time with the public. This activity was so successful that it was repeated for the next five years, expanding statewide in the final year.

21. Java Survivor Interview
From this base of information the museum followed up with taped and video interviews of the survivors and incorporated these stories into the exhibits. To date we have a collection of 400 Hawaii oral histories. Through the NOAA grants, the museum crew headed by Dr. Dudley has collected oral histories from Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Sumatra and Java. Our most recent additions to the archives are the 1964 Alaskan tsunami and the tsunami in Samoa.

22. The Beginning of the Annual Tsunami Story Festival
Laupahoehoe Rescue:
The Beginning of the Annual
Tsunami Story Festival
Each year the museum plans and produces an Annual Tsunami Story Festival in which we interview the subjects and tell their tsunami survivor stories at a dinner occasion. It began in 2003 when we told the story of the amazing rescue of Kazu Murakami, a fifteen year old swept out to sea in 1946 who drifted for 30 hours before being rescued by the U.S. Navy.

23. With that first story session, we quickly realized that recounting and sharing these stories in a public forum was a powerful means to promote tsunami awareness and education, and thus, we followed up in 2004 with the theme “When time Stood Still” in which we shared the accounts of what happened in Hilo in 1960 when the Waiakea clock stopped at 1:05 a.m. and Hilo was obliterated by a tsunami produced by the world’s largest earthquake near Conception, Chile.

24. In 2005 the story of Shinmachi, termed the lost town on the bay, told the stories of families who lived in that idyllic setting only to be washed away by the tsunami of 1946.
Shinmachi

25. The story festival of 2006 recorded accounts of the Hilo Consolidated Railroad, which came to an abrupt end when the 1946 tsunami washed out the infrastructure along the bay and coast.
Last run of engine 121

26. In 2007 we told the stories of life on colorful Mamo Street in Hilo where families and businesses who had survived the 1946 tsunami, only to be wiped out fourteen years later in 1960.

27. Liliuokalani Gardens in Waiakea
The Story Festival of 2008 told of life in idyllic Waiakea town, which before the 1960 tusnami was a thriving community of 500 residents, 40 businesses and two schools. This is where we now have a golf course, hotels, and beautiful Liliuokalami Park, a thirty acre Japanese garden, the largest outside of Japan.
Liliuokalani Gardens in Waiakea

28. A somber festival in 2009 told the stories of those who were the first responders to the tsunamis of ‘46 and ’60,

29. 2010 Story festival – Hilo Perseveres
And this year on the 50th anniversary date of the 1960 tsunami we will host the 2010 story festival entitled “Hilo Perseveres”, in which we will tell the stories of family owned businesses in Hilo who survived the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis and World War II , prospered and are still in business today. They are a true testament to the tenacious spirit of Hilo.

30. An initiative begun by the museum in 1998 solicited the Governor’s approval to declare April as Tsunami Awareness Month. This activity has grown over the years and now with the support of State and County Civil Defense Agencies and NOAA, the news media on TV and print have made the April coverage of tsunamis a powerful educational force. Each year we include survivor stories most of which are provided by our museum archives.

31. Through our outreach programs we have partnered with other agencies to bring about renewed tsunami awareness and education. It will soon be fifty years since the last major destructive tsunami and we have thousands of newcomers and whole generations who only this past month experienced their first evacuation, much less a major tsunami. To that the county of Hawaii Planning Department funded a project entitled The Tsunami Education Preparation and Recovery Project for downtown Hilo and the museum produced a guide entitled How to Prepare Your Business for the Next Tsunami.

32. Tsunami Safe Fair
Small group settings provided all downtown businesses with an opportunity to discuss their various situations. The culmination of this project was a Tsunami Safe Fair that brought together all agencies that play a role in preparedness planning.

33. In 2005 the museum embarked on a project to expand the exhibits beyond the walls of the museum. Twelve tsunami sites along a 35 mile drive were identified and a fourteen page publication entitled The East Hawaii Driving and Walking Tour of Historical Tsunami Sites was researched and developed. The award winning booklet dispenses a mixture of survivor stories, historical information, and photographs of the 1946 and 1960 tsunami disasters. The publication is free and available at the museum.

34. Tsunami Observer Program
The museum just completed a multi-year contract with Hawaii State Civil Defense to train and monitor a Tsunami Observer Program for the entire state. This included recruiting and training volunteers on all of the islands who would be on call in the event of a tsunami to assess and document the tsunami’s action in their assigned coastal area. Budget constraints have curtailed the oversight funding, but the volunteers manned their posts on February 27th when we experienced a statewide evacuation due to the earthquake in Chile.

35. Tsunami Clock
One of the identified landmarks in Hilo is known simply as the Tsunami Clock. It is referred to in the tourist guide books and it is amazing how many visitors ask about the clock. It stands exactly where it was located before the tsunami of 1960 and is set at the exact time that the third disastrous wave obliterated the town A sports club known as the Waiakea Pirates led by 93 year old Tadayoshi Kanda, whom we have named “The Keeper of the Clock” maintain the site as a memorial. He keeps the site clean and decorated with flowers in memory of his father and 60 others who died in the 1960 tsunami. The museum has assisted with funding for upkeep, refurbishing the clock and providing the signage for the site.

36. Shinmachi Memorial
Another landmark in Hilo is the Shinmachi Memorial donated by the Shinmachi Club and dedicated on April 1, 1996, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1946 tsunami that destroyed the community of Shinmachi. The memorial and adjacent visitor’s center are maintained by the State of Hawaii and are identified as tourist sites. Up until 1998 the former residents of Shinmachi would gather yearly on the anniversary for a remembrance ceremony and social hour. Their demise over the years has brought this to a close.

37. Laupahoehoe Monument
The community of Laupahoehoe located 25 miles from Hilo lost 24 students and teachers in the 1946 tsunami. Each year on the school day nearest the anniversary date, a special program is held where the school children and elderly in the community gather for a commemorative ceremony to share stories and lunch together and do a park clean up service project.

38. The Tsunami Quilt
Laupahoehoe students authored a book about the 1946 tsunami entitled April’s Fool, which we sell at the museum. The quilt they designed and made is on display at the museum and is the subject of a special children’s book entitled The Tsunami Quilt.

39. Hilo Hongwanji Betsuin Oral Histories
The population of Hilo has a high proportion of persons of Japanese ancestry and the areas decimated by the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 were predominately Japanese. Three years ago the Hilo Hongwanji Betsuin began a project to document their history. They organized a special committee funded by the Kyodan to interview and collect the oral histories of the members. The defining moments for many of them were the tsunamis and the war years. Their accounts are shared in their monthly bulletins and have opened up a treasure of history for the younger generation.