Pacific Tsunami Museum

The Pacific Tsunami Museum, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit, is the world’s only museum whose goal is to save lives through education about natural hazards. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives to tsunamis due to being unprepared and not understanding the risks that tsunamis present. In spite of the increasing success of achieving our goal of saving lives through education, the museum may have to close within the next few weeks due to unforeseen major expenses in maintaining our nearly 100-year old building, which has served as the museum’s home for 30 years.

The Pacific Tsunami Museum is requesting your help to keep our doors open and allow us to continue our critically important mission to educate the community, acknowledge history, prevent misinformation, and keep the community safe -- more critical now than ever.

We Need Your Help

The museum’s “emergency fund” was rapidly depleted by surprise repairs when extensive mold was discovered in our historic building that is a centerpiece of downtown Hilo. The air is now safe to breathe and repair complete, but archives and exhibits remain in danger due to ongoing issues with roof leaks and broken air conditioning for which these funds were earmarked. This comes at an inopportune lull in the nonprofit funding climate, as many grants for funding remain yet to close. With your kind and generous support we will be able to bridge through this trying time and keep the museum open.

Why It's Important

The risk of a deadly tsunami is always high and based on the frequency from the historic record of tsunamis we are long overdue for one that could significantly impact our community. Since the 1960 tsunami struck Hawaiʻi, hundreds of buildings have been built in the tsunami hazard zone across the state, including schools, government buildings, community gathering spaces, homes, apartment buildings and hotels. Literally thousands of people frequent these areas on a daily basis and all would be at risk from the next tsunami. Additionally, there is increasing geologic and volcanic activity in the Pacific region, and every year without a major earthquake around the Pacific rim increases the odds of a large tsunami-generating earthquake occurring. It’s not “if” but “when” will the next tsunami strike. Please help us continue to spread tsunami and natural hazard education for years and decades to come and with that keep our local and international community members safe!

Background on the Tsunami Museum

Please read below for a bit more background on the museum:

Hilo residents watching the first wave of the 1960 tsunami. Not understanding the risk from tsunamis, 61 people in Hilo were killed by this tsunami. At the Pacific Tsunami Museum our goal is to educate our community to avoid situations like this.

The Pacific Tsunami Museum has been educating local and international community members for 30 years and we would like to continue doing so and saving lives for as long as we are able. The museum also serves as a very important Memorial to those lost in past tsunamis. We have the world’s largest collection of true stories collected from survivors of tsunamis around the world from Hawaii to Alaska to Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, Samoa, American Samoa, and Japan. These stories are used by the museum to educate people in at-risk communities around the world. Tsunami education is especially important in vulnerable Hawaiʻi as the islands are at high risk. The museum’s tsunami education is critical to Hawaiʻi.

The Pacific Tsunami Museum has been increasingly successful in its efforts to educate kamaʻāina, visitors, and school children through museum exhibits, free kamaʻāina first Saturdays every month, and outreach programs for schools and community groups. The museum has also had a major role in providing materials for an upcoming CNN documentary about tsunamis to air in 2024 - 20 years since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 75 years since the founding of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and 30 years since we opened the Pacific Tsunami Museum. We have also provided information and interviews for numerous documentaries previously shown on television in more than a dozen countries.

Mahalo nui for your contribution to helping save lives through education and never forgetting those lost to past tsunamis.