Personal accounts from survivors of the Hilo tsunamis of 1946 and 1960: Toward a disaster communication model

Abstract

In 1960 a tsunami took the lives of 61 people in Hilo, Hawaiʻi only 14 years after 96 people were lost in the 1946 tsunami. In 1960 there was 12 hours notice of a possible large tsunami and a siren warning system in place that was sounded more than four hours prior to the event. The governmental agencies knew there was a tsunami alert, the media was broadcasting warnings. What went wrong? My research includes analysis of transcripts available in the archives of the Pacific Tsunami Museum of interviews conducted with survivors of both the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis. A focus group was utilized to assess current tsunami awareness. Additionally, I examined logs of three governmental agencies recorded during the 1960 tsunami. My research indicates effective tsunami mitigation can be accomplished only through continual tsunami awareness education for the public, governmental agencies and the media.