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In 1946, Hawaii was a place of new beginnings and great hope for the future. Food and gas rationing had ended.
Barbed wire had been removed from the beaches and there were no curfews. Blackout
paint was scraped off the windows. Families, reunited after the long war overseas, moved
forward. Men and women got married, started families, went back to college, invested in
new businesses. They were confident that their world was again safe from aggression and
destruction.
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On April 1,1946, tsunami waves crossed the
ocean from the north. In the early hours of the morning, these giant monsters
shredded the coastlines of the Hawaiian Islands into rubble and chaos. Men, women and
children disappeared forever into the waters that boiled and raged along the shores.
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In Keaukaha, a residential area along the
northeast coast of Hilo Town, ancient fishponds were filled with mud and debris. Homes
were smashed like matchsticks and roads were washed out. Many people saved themselves by
escaping inland to the navigation towers near the airport. Others scrambled up trees. Some
were not so lucky and were sucked out to sea or buried in the rubble.
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Twenty-five miles north of Hilo on the
Laupahoehoe peninsula, children were just arriving for school. They were delighted by the
fish flopping on the bare ocean floor as the water was sucked out by the tsunami waves
looming on the horizon. Children scampered down to the shore to get a closer look. The
waves came in with a vengeance, smashing two teachers′ cottages to bits, driving two
other cottages into a grove of trees. The waves wrapped around the peninsula and boiled
across the meadow where children were frantically running to escape. Friends and
family watched helplessly from the pali above as children and adults were sucked out to
sea.
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Fifty-three years have passed since this
horrible tragedy. Many survivors have graciously shared their stories to instruct and
prepare future generations for the next giant tsunami. Perhaps by sharing their
experiences, they can find comfort and closure.
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On April 1,1999, a group of Keaukaha survivors
are gathering to share their common tsunami experience, meeting at the Seaside Restaurant
and ending with a visit to their old home sites.
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Jeanne Branch Johnston, a Keaukaha survivor,
was instrumental in the creation of the Pacific Tsunami Museum five years ago, and now
helps us record survivor stories statewide.
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Also on April 1st, the entire student body of
Laupahoehoe High and Elementary School, members of the community and third graders from
Kalanianaole School will clean, plant, clear, and paint at Laupahoehoe Point park and hold
a memorial service at the Tsunami Monument. This
annual Service Project will run from 9:15am to 1:00pm.
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"What better way to honor those who lost their lives and
those who survived, than to take care of this place so you
can come here and be embraced by what is called the mana of this place."
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Lucille Chung, April Fool's; the Laupahoehoe
Tragedy of 1946, An Oral History, 1997
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The Pacific Tsunami Museum is dedicated to
educating and preparing the public for the next tsunami. We cannot save beachfront homes
and businesses, but we can cheat it of human life. The next tsunami survivors are here to
remind us, "Let us not forget!"
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