My mom was just an infant when a deadly tsunami obliterated her hometown of Hilo, Hawaii back in 1946. The massive wave killed 159 people, but spared thousands of others, including my mother and my grandparents. In the decades following the incredible natural disaster, the city has been rebuilt and is prospering. However, the memory of what occurred in the early morning hours of April 1, 1946 will live in perpetuity thanks in part to the creation of the Pacific Tsunami Museum located in exact location where the tidal wave hit.
The museum is one of the Big Island’s most popular attractions. Since opening in 1994, it has hosted more than 150,000 visitors who have taken in the museum’s interactive exhibits as well as the detailed archives, which show the horrific aftermath the huge wave left behind. I have been to the museum many times (in fact, my former high school principal is the museum’s current director) and I can attest that it is a must-see Hawaiian attraction.
That said; I was not surprised to learn that the Pacific Tsunami Museum is now being used as the model for a similar museum located a half a world away in Thailand where hundreds of residents living in a group of coastal villages were killed in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The museum, which is scheduled to open in May, is being built to honor the dead and educate residents. It will be housed in the Kamphuan Community Learning Center built by the U.S. Agency for International Development. According to the museum’s project manager (a University of Hawaii professor), the building will house “an exhibit room and two interactive computer kiosks with a dozen survivor interviews, clips of the destructive tsunami, models on how the monster waves are formed as well as videos on evacuation drill.”
In addition, one wall in the museum will display the names of all tsunami victims from about a half-dozen fishing and agricultural villages. Museum directors say the purpose of the project is two-fold. It will act as a memorial to those who died during the tsunami and serve as an educational tool and potentially help save lives. According to the UH professor in charge of the project, “unlike preparedness information handed out by government agencies in pamphlets, museums are viewed as a more effective way to teach people about natural disasters because residents can relate to real-life stories of survivors.”
If all goes according to plan, once the tsunami museum in Thailand is up and running a similar one will be constructed at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala state, India.
For more information about the Pacific Tsunami Museum located in Hilo, Hawaii click here.
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