:Pacific Tsunami Museum
{{short description|Museum in Hilo, Hawaii, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = Pacific Tsunami Museum
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| logo = Pacific Tsunami Museum logo (2018).png
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| image = Hilo Pacific Tsnumai Museum Big island Hawaii Park (46226726062).jpg
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| caption = The Pacific Tsunami Museum is housed in a former First Hawaiian Bank building in downtown Hilo, Hawaii
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| coordinates = {{coord|19|43|33|N|155|5|12|W|type:landmark_region:US-HI|display=inline,title}}
| former_name = Hilo Tsunami Museum
| established = {{start date|1994|08|31|df=y}}
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| location = 130 Kamehameha Avenue
Hilo, Hawaii
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| founder = {{ubl|
- Jeanne Branch Johnston
- Dr. Walter Dudley}}
| executive_director = {{ubl|
- Donna Saiki (1994–2013)
- Marlene Murray (2013-2022
- Cindi Preller (2022+)}}
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| architect = Charles W. Dickey
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| website = {{URL|tsunami.org}}
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The Pacific Tsunami Museum (originally, the Hilo Tsunami Museum) is a museum in Hilo, Hawaii dedicated to the history of the April 1, 1946 Pacific tsunami and the May 23, 1960 Chilean tsunami{{cite web|url=http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Tsunami1960.html |title=1960 Tsunami |publisher=Drgeorgepc.com |accessdate=2014-02-05}} which devastated much of the east coast of the Big Island, especially Hilo. The museum also has a mission to educate people in general about tsunamis, including the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. It is located at 130 Kamehameha Avenue, at the intersection of Kamehameha and Kalakaua in downtown Hilo.[http://www.tsunami.org/ Pacific Tsunami Museum] official web site
One of the founders of the museum, Dr. Walter Dudley, serves as chairman of the museum's Scientific Advisory Council and is the President of the Board.
History
The museum traces its origins to 1988, when Dr. Walter Dudley, a professor at the University of Hawaii–Hilo, was soliciting survivor stories from the community for his book Tsunami!.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLrvAAAAMAAJ |title=Tsunami! |author1=Dudley, Walter C. |author2=Lee, Min |date=1988 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824811259 |access-date=21 June 2021}} Dr. Dudley would later publish additional chronicles of tsunami survivors.{{cite book |title=The Tsunami of 1946 and 1960 and the Devastation of Hilo Town |first1=Walter |last1=Dudley |first2=Scott |last2=Stone |publisher=The Donning Company |date=2000 |isbn=1-57864-123-3}}
Jeanne Branch Johnston, a tsunami survivor,{{cite interview |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/30352 |title=Tsunamis Remembered: Oral Histories of Survivors and Observers in Hawai{{okina}}i {{!}} Interview with Jeanne Branch Johnston |subject=Jeanne Branch Johnston |interviewer=Warren Nishimoto |date=April 9, 1998 |publisher=University of Hawai{{okina}}i |access-date=21 June 2021}} decided there was a need for a tsunami museum in 1993 and formed a steering committee; she and Dr. Dudley co-founded the museum that year.{{cite web |url=http://tsunami.org/1about/06_history.html |title=History |publisher=Pacific Tsunami Museum |accessdate=December 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017185304/http://tsunami.org/1about/06_history.html |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.gi.alaska.edu/alaska-science-forum/1946-tsunami-survivor-shares-her-story |title=1946 tsunami survivor shares her story |date=December 31, 2014 |author=Rozell, Ned |publisher=Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks |access-date=21 June 2021}} The museum was incorporated in August 1994; partners include the International Tsunami Information Center, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the University of Hawaiʻi (both the Hilo and Manoa campuses), and State and County Civil Defense Agencies.{{cite web |url=http://planet-hawaii.com/tsunami/mission.htm |title=Mission |publisher=Pacific Tsunami Museum |archive-date=December 1, 1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981201074010/http://planet-hawaii.com/tsunami/mission.htm |url-status=dead}} Early solicitations for fundraising were for the Hilo Tsunami Museum.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/557078692/ |title=Tsunami Museum Is Important To This Community (advertisement) |date=April 23, 1995 |newspaper=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |access-date=21 June 2021}} Johnston, Dudley, and Michael Childers began compiling an oral history of tsunami survivors from Hawai{{okina}}i, Alaska, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Maldives, with more than 450 survivor stories archived at the museum.{{cite news |url=https://www.hinowdaily.com/tsunami-survivor-jeanne-johnston-shares-story/ |title=Tsunami survivor Jeanne Johnston shares story |work=Hawaii News Now |access-date=21 June 2021}}
On May 22, 1997, First Hawaiian Bank announced it would donate its Kamehameha Branch building as the permanent site for the museum. The building, originally completed in 1930 to a design by local architect Charles W. Dickey, was turned over to the museum in December, and the museum opened to the public in June 1998. Funds for the renovation were provided in part by the Federal Emergency Management Agency under its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.{{cite web |url=https://www.fema.gov/case-study/pacific-tsunami-museum-museum-educates-new-generations |title=Pacific Tsunami Museum Museum Educates New Generations |publisher=Federal Emergency Management Agency |access-date=21 June 2021}} Previously, temporary exhibits were shown at the nearby S. H. Kress & Co. building. The ex-Bank building is approximately {{cvt|5300|ft2}}, with exhibits on the ground floor; the basement is used mostly for storage, and the upper floor is used for offices and archives.{{rp|7}}
Donna Saiki (née Weiss), who was the principal at Hilo High School from 1988 to 1996, also served as the first volunteer executive director of the museum starting in 1994 until June 2013. Saiki recruited members, volunteers, and donors;{{cite news |url=https://gmdmedia.net/courier-wedge/donna-saiki |title=Donna Saiki |date=November 9, 2017 |work=Durand Courier-Wedge |access-date=21 June 2021}} her husband Ronald was a youth sports coach in Keaukaha.{{cite news |url=https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2012/11/14/sports/coach-saiki-to-be-honored-at-hualani-park/ |title=Coach Saiki to be honored at Hualani Park |date=November 14, 2012 |newspaper=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |access-date=21 June 2021}} Marlene Murray succeeded Saiki as the executive director in June 2013.{{cite report |url=https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2018/2018GIA-Apps/Pacific%20Tsunami%20Museum,%20Inc.%20OP_Redacted.pdf#page=8 |title=Grant Request - Operating: Pacific Tsunami Museum |date=January 16, 2018 |publisher=State of Hawai{{okina}}i, Twenty-Ninth Legislature |access-date=21 June 2021}}{{rp|7}} The museum building was retrofitted with photovoltaic arrays in 2014.{{rp|7}} A new science room was added in April 2016.{{cite news |url=https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2016/04/20/video-pacific-tsunami-museum-opens-new-science-room/ |title=Pacific Tsunami Museum Opens New Science Room |date=April 20, 2016 |work=Big Island Video News |access-date=21 June 2021}}
The museum was closed temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hawaii, and reopened with permanent hours in March 2023.{{cite news |url=https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/03/22/hawaii-news/pacific-tsunami-museum-reopens-through-stories-we-can-teach-people-how-to-survive/ |title = Pacific Tsunami Museum reopens: 'Through stories, we can teach people how to survive' |date=March 26, 2023 |work =Hawaii Tribune Herald|access-date= 7 June 2023}} Several exhibits have been renovated and expanded, including a new exhibit about Hawaii's natural hazards.{{cite news |url=https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2022/04/01/hawaii-news/tsunami-museum-reopens-in-hilo-today-marks-anniversary-of-devastating-1946-wave/ |title=Tsunami museum reopens in Hilo: Today marks anniversary of devastating 1946 wave |date=April 1, 202 |newspaper=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |access-date=7 June 2023}} There are plans to establish a new exhibit about the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami. In November 2024, the board of the museum laid off its 10-person staff and suspended operations; some former employees volunteered their labor to keep it open.{{cite news |author=John Burnett |url=https://www.thegardenisland.com/2024/12/24/hawaii-news/hilos-tsunami-museum-closes-due-to-financial-woes-staff-laid-off/ |title=Hilo’s tsunami museum closes due to financial woes; staff laid off |newspaper=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |via=The Garden Island |date=December 24, 2024 }}{{cite news |author=Christine Hitt |url=https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaii-tsunami-museum-risks-closure-20001924.php |title=Hawaii museum lays off entire staff, at risk of closing its doors for good |website=San Francisco Chronicle |date=December 28, 2024 }}
References
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External links
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- {{cite web |url=http://www.shinrokuden.irides.tohoku.ac.jp/msrdnwp/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200111hawaii.pdf |title=Introducing the Pacific Tsunami Museum |author=Murray, Marlene}}
- {{cite book |url=https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/9781467132633/Hawaii-Tsunamis |title=Images of America: Hawai{{okina}}i Tsunamis |date=2015 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |author1=Muffler, Barbara |author2=Pacific Tsunami Museum |isbn=9781467132633}}
{{Hilo, Hawaii}}
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Category:1993 establishments in Hawaii
Category:Museums established in 1993
Category:Natural history museums in Hawaii
Category:Museums in Hilo, Hawaii