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1998 Third Place Winner
Story by Naureen Fukui
Interviewee: Matilda Mooney
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Tsunami Essay
On the morning of April 1st, 1946, Matilda Mooney, my grandmother′s best friend, was in the apartment that she lived in with her mother, four brothers and one sister, two uncles, and one aunt. She was getting ready for school; her mother had already left for work (She worked at White Star Laundry on Haili Street).
Suddenly, without warning, there was a violent shaking of the apartment. They all thought that there was an earthquake going on. Just then, the owner of the apartment came running up the stairs shouting, "Tidal Wave! Tidal Wave!" And behind him, they could see the water rushing up the stairs. They were all very frightened. Matilda grabbed her two younger brothers. She held on to them tight in both arms. As the second or third wave hit the apartment, the building came crashing down. She remembers the water pushing her all over, through the debris. She was going through a tiny, dark tunnel, made by the remains of the building. She was so scared, that she couldn′t even scream. The next thing she knew was that she had lost her two younger brothers that she was holding, and she couldn′t see them anywhere. She was out of the tunnel now, and saw her grandma, sister, and her uncle being carried up the Wailoa River by the wave; the current was pulling her down the river to the sea, away from them.
As Matilda was in Wailoa River, she was trying to climb onto all of the floating objects she could grab hold of, since she couldn't swim. Everytime she got on to a rooftop though, another wave would come and knock her off into the water. Whenever she fell back into the water, the current would pull her down to the bottom of the river and she would have to really struggle to get back to the top. She was really scared and alone. She remembers praying to God for help.
She then remembers seeing a little boy, no more than six years old hanging on to a clump of California grass. She started calling out to him, and tried to save him, but he was knocked into the water by another wave and she didn't see Him again.
She was being pushed more and more down the Wailoa River. Then she saw a man calling out to her. He was standing on a building. He swam out to her and told her to jump. She said she was too scared. He asked her to jump again. This time he did and she went straight to the bottom. She thought she was going to die when she felt a hand grab her and take her to shore. Then he took her to the Coca−Cola building where they were giving medical attention. At that place, they dressed her in a burlap bag because her clothes were torn. There were a lot of injured people there, but among all those people, she could not see any of her family members. Just then she saw her mom walking toward her, but her mom did not recognize her because she was all bruised and swollen. She called out to her mom and her mom saw her.
A little while later, they went to the NAS Dispensary to clean her up and to see if any bodies were found. Her grandma, two brothers, and her aunt were found deceased in the Dispensary. One of her baby brothers was found a week later at the breakwater. The only way Matilda's mom could identify his body was because he was wearing a pair of pants that she had sewn for him. They later found her sister, brother, and uncle alive.
The Big Wave was a very traumatizing experience for Matilda Moody. We all thank God that she was able to survive it and live to tell us about it.
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All materials © Copyright 1996-2007 Pacific Tsunami Museum Inc.
130 Kamehameha Ave Hilo, HI 96720 tel: 808-935-0926 FAX: 808-935-0842
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Last Revised November 2007
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