Tsunami Hazards Gallery
The photos in this gallery are courtesy of the Pacific Tsunami Museum, and they will not enlarge. Be sure and visit the Pacific Tsunami Museum web page for extensive photos, as well as more information.
Now available throughout Hawaii in surf shops and at Civil Defense, a free 18-minute DVD: Heʻe Nalu—But never try to surf a tsunami. Funded by State of Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency, this video compares huge surfing waves generated by the November 2003 storm in Hilo with deadly tsunami waves. Scientists explain the nature of tsunamis and why you should be far inland during a tsunami watch or warning. View short clips of this DVD are in the gallery below.
Downtown Hilo, heavily damaged by the 1946 tsunami, was battered again in May 1960. (Martin Polhemus Collection, Pacific Tsunami Museum.)
The hardest hit area in 1960 was the Waiakea peninsula: nearly every building was flattened or floated away. Above, a school building. (Matt Chow collection, Pacific Tsunami Museum.)
Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense Active Alerts
Visit the Civil Defense website for up-to-date information.