TSUNAMIS REMEMBERED: Oral Histories of Survivors and Observers in Hawai'i

Volutn.e I

Center for Oral History Social Science Research Institute University of Hawai'i at Manoa

These are slightly edited transcriptions of interviews conducted by the Center for Oral History, University of Hawai'i at Minoa. The reader should be aware that an oral history document portrays information as recalled by the interviewee. Because of the spontaneous nature of this kind of document, it may contain statements and impressions which are not factual.

People are welcome to utilize, in unpublished works, short excerpts from any of the transcriptions without obtaining permission as long as proper credit is given to the interviewee, interviewer, and the Center for Oral History. Permission must be obtained from the Center for Oral History for published excerpts and extensive use of transcriptions and related materials. Transcripts and cassette tapes may not be duplicated or reproduced by any party without permission from the Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. 2424 Maile Way, Social Sciences Building 724, Honolulu, Hawai 'i 96822. TSUNAMIS REMEMBERED: · Oral Histories of Survivors and Observers in Hawai'i

Volutne II

Center for Oral History Social Science Research Institute University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Aprll2000 Copyright e 2000 Center for Oral History Social Science Research Institute University of Hawai'i at Manoa

These are slightly edited transcriptions of interviews conducted by the Center for Oral History, University of Hawai'i at Minoa. The reader should be aware that an

People are welcome to utilize, in unpublished works, short excerpts from any of the transcriptions without obtaining permission as long as proper credit is given to the interviewee, interviewer, and the Center for Oral History. Permission must be obtained from the Center for Oral History for published excerpts and extensive use of transcriptions and related materials. Transcripts and cassette tapes may not be duplicated or reproduced by any party without permission from the Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai'i at Minoa, 2424 Maile Way, Social Sciences Building 724, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822. TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume I

AClrn'OWLEOOMENTS ...... v RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION STAFF ...... vii PHO'l'OGRAPHS ...... ix INTRODUC'I'ION ...... x:xvii.

TRANSCRIPI'S Robert Y.S. "Steamy" Chow ...... 1 Ronald "Square" Goya and May Goya ...... 61 Minerva Saiki Hayakawa ...... 147 Evelyn Lyn Kagawa ...... 197 Riichi Hatada ...... 223 James U.C. :Low ...... 257 Laura Yuen Chock ...... 299 Catherine Diama Campainha ...... 327 Masao Uchima ...... 351 Sadako Suzuki ...... 401 June Mitsuko Shigemasa ...... 439 Fusae Takaki ...... 4 73

APPENDIX Chronology ...... A-1 Select Bibliography ...... B-1 Glossary ...... C-1 Index ...... D-1

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume II

AC~Ovr.LEIXJ~NTS ...... v RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION STAFF ...... vii PHOTOGRAPHS ...... ix . INTRODUCTION ...... x::x:vii

TRANSCRIPrS Josephine Nelson Todd ...... 495 Alexander M. Riviera ...... 525 Kimiko Kuwana Sakai ...... 551 Jeanne Branch Johnston...... 615 Kapua Wall Heuer ...... 639 Leonore K VanGieson ...... 661 Eloise Ahuna Pung ...... 681 Masuo Kino ...... 711 Bunji Fujimoto ...... 731 Marsue McGinnis McShane ...... ·...... 763 Herbert S. Nishimoto ...... 795 Albert L. Stanley ...... _...... 817 Richard Furtado ...... 841 Harold P. Luscomb, Jr...... 877 Hayato Okino ...... 911 Violet and Tak.eshi Hirata ...... 945 James T. Ohashi ...... 977

APPENDIX Chronology ...... A-1 Select Bibliography ...... B-1 Glossary ...... C-1 Index ...... D-1

ill Acknowledgments

In addition to the interviewees and their families, we would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals:

Pacific Tsunami Museum Walter C. Dudley Carrie Luke-Knotts Donna Saiki Susan G. Tissot

Lucille Chun May Bradley Cook Clarence Ferdun Barbara Fujimoto Juliette Furtado Roy Goya EikoHatada Naomi Hayakawa Frank Kanzaki Kiyoto Kohashi Wataru Kohashi Jack I. Miyashiro Ruth Nakamura Tom Kiyoshi Nakashima Glenn Okino Harold Okino Kiyoshi Okubo Josephine Quinones Christine Nakano Saiki Susumu Shigemasa John Stansfield Chidori Nishimoto Uchima Mildred Uchima

v PROJECT STAFF

Center for Oral History Social Science Research Institute

Director and Principal Investigator Warren S. Nishimoto

Research Coordinator Michl Kodama-Nishimoto

Research Associate Holly J. Yamada

Publications Specialist Cynthia A. Oshiro

Transcript Editor and Indexer Karen Matsuda

Student Transcribers Mirasol Budiao Jona Goong Randall K. Hironaka Audrey Kawaoka Stephanie Kuroda Karen Matsuda Lindsay Nishii Jennifer Yamamoto

Student Assistants Charmaine Kwong Keaookalani Mattos

vii Top left, Catherine Campainha; top right, Laura Chock; middle left, Robert Chow; bottom left, Bunji Fujimoto; bottom right, Richard Furtado

ix xi

Top left, May and Ronald Goya; top right, Riichi Hatada; middle left, Minerva Hayakawa; middle right, Kapua Heuer; bottom, Violet and Takeshi Hirata; bottom right, Jeanne Johnston xiii

Top left, Lyn Kagawa; top right, Masuo Kino; middle Left, James Low with father's portrait (William Ing, Hawaii Tribune-Herald photo); bottom Left, Harold Luscomb; bottom right, Marsue McShane XV

Top left, Herbert Nishimoto; top right, James Ohashi; middle left, Hayato Okino; middle right, Eloise Pung; bottom left, Alex Riviera; bottom right, Kimiko Sakai xvii

Top left, June Shigemasa; top right, Albert Stanley; middle right, Sadako Suzuki; bottom left, Fusae Takaki; bottom right, Josephine Todd XIX

Above left, Masao Uchima; above right, Lenore Van Gieson. All interviewee photos by COH unless otherwise noted.

Below left, Kuwahara Store was one of the few structures on the makai side of Kamehameha Avenue in downtown Hilo to survive the 1946 tsunami. (Pacific Tsunami Museum)

Above, Hatada Bakery rests on top of a railroad car, Hilo, 1946. (Hatada family)

Above, Kamehameha Avenue, downtown Hilo, looking south. Hilo Ironworks is in background. What was once Shinmachi district is the area on the right, 1946. (Rod Mason) xxi

Left, View from WaHi nuenue Avenue toward Kamehameha Avenue and the ocean, Hilo, 1946. Note approaching water engulf ing bus. (Pacific Tsunami Museum) Below left, Kamehameha Avenue, Hilo, 1946. (Pa cific Tsunami Museum)

Below right, Charles Mason home, Keaukaha district, 1946. (VanGieson family)

Right, LaupAhoehoe Point, prior to 1946 tsunami. LaupA· hoehoe School ballfield is in right foreground. (Masuo Kino)

Below left, LaupAhoehoe Point shoreline prior to receding, 1946. (Bunji Fujimoto)

Below right, LaupAhoehoe Point shoreline receding just prior to arriving tsunami, 1946. (Bunji Fujimoto) XXIU

Below, Damaged teachers' cottages, Laupahoehoe School, 1946. (Bunji Fujimoto)

Above left, Laupahoehoe School grounds after 1946 tsunami. Main school building on the right side was not damaged. The open area is the school's ballfield. (Bunji Fujimoto).

Left, Men await the waves at Suisan Company fish market, Hilo, 1960. (Pacific Tsunami Museum/Hawaii Tribune-Herald collection/ Larry Kadooka, photographer) Below left, The waves collapsed Skippers Cove Restaurant in Waiakea Town, 1960. (Pacific Tsunami Museum/Hawaii Tribune-Herald collection/Larry Kadooka, photographer) Below right, The tsunami deposited a boulder in a street in downtown Hilo near the dam aged Hobby House, 1960. (Pacific Tsunami Museum/Hawaii Tribune-Herald collection/ Larry Kadooka, photographer) XXV

Far left, Parking meters near Hilo Theatre were flattened by the tsunami, May 1960. (NGDC, U.S. Army Corps of Engi neers) Left, Cars were stacked by the waves, 1960. (Pacific Tsunami Museum/Hawaii Tribune-Herald collection/Larry Kadooka, photographer) INTRODUCTION

The Center for Oral History (COH), a unit of the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, was established in 1976. Its major function is to research, conduct, transcribe, edit, and disseminate oral history interviews with persons possessing knowledge about Hawai'i's past. COH seeks to provide present and future researchers with first-person, primary-source documents with which to write history from a diversity of perspectives.

COH also produces educational materials (books, articles, newsletters, brochures, etc.) based on the interviews, presents lectures on local history, conducts classes and workshops on oral history methodology for individuals and community/educational groups, and serves as a clearinghouse for oral history research relating to Hawai'i.

Tsunamis Remembered: Oral Histories of Survivors and Observers in Hawai 'i is a two-volume set featuring life history interviews with individuals who witnessed and survived tsunamis-particularly the 1946 and 1960 disasters on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Thirty individuals-mostly residents of Hilo and Laupahoehoe-recall their experiences before; during, and after the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis which were arguably the most destructive natural disasters in modem Hawaiian history. Residents lost loved ones and property or barely escaped death. Oceanfront communities, buildings, and landmarks were swept off the map. Many businesses were forced to relocate or close down entirely.

"When I came down the street . .. the whole road, everything was covered with debris. Every square inch was just covered. There was a house in the middle of the road. It looked like somebody had taken all the furniture out of the house and put it underneath the house and sat the house down on top of it. And I wanted to go see it, and they said, 'No, no. Don't go over there.' Well, of course I went anyway, and there was an arm in the debris. The reason they didn't want us to look was because there were bodies all over the place, and they didn't want the kids running around . . . And then we walked over all this debris. It was furniture and sticks and rocks and huge boulders and kitchen stuff, and people and everything. It was the most amazing destruction I've ever seen. " -Jeanne Branch Johnston

" .. . my head just happened to look out towards the ocean . ... When !looked up, I couldn't believe my eyes because here was this huge, huge wave, nothing that I've ever seen in my life. It was like a wall ofwater that was rising in the bay and it was just rolling in towards the building . ... So I turned into the service station to try and make a U-turn to get out of there . ... By the time I got into that driveway of the gas station, the water had already reached me and I was still sitting in the car. So I was neck deep in water and half petrified because I didn't know what to do, you know, I was in shock . . . and so I sat there for a moment and then I felt the car being dragged out. It kind of woke me up so I immediately jumped out of the car through the window ... " -James tJ .C. Low

xxvii xxviii

"I didn't know the devastation that it could do really. It didn't dawn on me that the store was completely wiped out until I went downstairs in the morning. And there was nothing, not even a stick, not even a button, nothing in the store . ... People were very, very good. They came to help us; they brought us trucks to haul away whatever we could. We did find some material underneath all that mud and debris. The trucks took 'em out to Kolekole . . . and threw the material in at the top of the river and let it run down and let the water clean it. And then we laid it on the grass, the lawn over there, stretched out and dried it. And people came in to buy ten cents a yard, twenty five cents a yard. • -Evelyn Lyn Kagawa

"I looked out here and saw this great big black wall coming in like this . ... The noise was terrific, the rolling . ... You've heard high seas and rough weather. Well, just triple that. And then you heard the screaming. You look and people were stomping, trying to reach eanh, trying to get out. Dogs swimming around. Then came the crash . ... Well, it hit buildings, the lighthouse, and the railroad track and everything. And the roar. And I said, 'Oh, that's good-bye to Hilo. '" -Kapua Wall Heuer

Background and Methodology The idea for this oral history project came from a group of Hilo residents who were starting up a museum dedicated to educating the public about the history and dangers of tsunami in Hawai'i. The group was composed of tsunami survivors and scientists at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo researching the physical effects of tsunamis in Hawai'i and other parts of the world. The museum came to be known as Hilo Tsunami Museum, later Pacific Tsunami Museum. In addition to securing funds to start and maintain the museum, the group sought photos, artifacts, and first-person accounts, either written or oral.

The Executive Director of the new museum, Susan Tissot, contacted COH Director Warren Nishimoto about the possibility of contracting for oral history interviews with thirty survivors and observers of tsunamis in Hawai'i, with particular emphasis on the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis, which were the two most devastating in Hawai'i from the standpoint of loss of life and property. Although these two tsunamis affected most of the Hawaiian Island chain, the Big Island, in particular Hilo and its surrounding areas, were the hardest hit. To help raise community awareness and increase knowledge in Hilo about tsunamis, the museum invited Nishimoto to conduct two oral history methods workshops. These workshops trained several Hilo residents in the techniques of oral history and served as a starting point for the systematic and community-wide documentation of personal tsunami experiences.

Beginning in November 1997, Nishimoto researched written sources on tsunamis in Hawai'i. Most secondary sources on the subject were scientific accounts. James F. Lander, United States Tsunamis, 1690-I988 and Daniel A. Walker, Tsunami Facts provide basic background information on why and how tsunamis occur. Another valuable source is F.P. Shepard, Gordon A. MacDonald, and Doak C. Cox, The Tsunami of April 1, 1946, which provides a thorough explanation of the relationship between earthquakes and tsunamis and links the 1946 disaster in Hawai'i to the movement of the sea bottom south of Unimak Island off Alaska. The most useful source, Walter C. Dudley and Min Lee, Tsunami!, presents scientific analyses of tsunamis in Hawai'i and elsewhere in an historical context and features interview excerpts from survivors. Nishimoto also consulted articles in local dailies, including the Hilo Tribune-Herald, The Honolulu Adveniser, and Honolulu Star-Bulletin. xxix

Nishimoto then traveled to Hilo to meet with Robert "Steamy" Chow, a retired Hilo police officer who witnessed and survived the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis. Chow, a participant in an earlier oral history workshop and a founding member of the Pacific Tsunami Museum, discussed the project with Nishimoto, displayed historical photographs of devastated Hilo, and shared a list of potential interviewees developed in consultation with other longtime Hilo residents. Nishimoto also met with Tissot, Dudley, and Jeanne Branch Johnston, another founding member of the museum. More names of possible interviewees were shared. Other names were provided by Hilo community members contacted by Nishimoto as part of a "snowball" sampling technique. Emphasis was placed on gender, ethnic, occupational, and geographical diversity. An attempt was made to interview residents who were impacted on different levels, from onlookers with a clear vantage point of the ocean to those who suffered the loss of family members. While all interviewees were impacted by either the 1946 or 1960 disasters; some were impacted by both; a few also recalled other less destructive tsunamis on the Big Island in 1923, 1952, 1957, and 1975. With the exception of James Ohashi's written account of his experiences as a resident of Kaua'i during the 1946 tsunami, all accounts in these volumes relate to the Big Island.

Following untaped preliminary interviews, thirty individuals were selected for taping. Selection was based on the interviewees' depth and breadth of knowledge, their ability to articulate life experiences, and their willingness to participate as interviewees.

The interviews by COH director Warren Nishimoto and Big Island researcher/interviewer Nancy Pi'ianaia were conducted at the interviewees' homes on the Big Island or O'ahu between February 1998 and May 1999. Each individual was interviewed in at least one ninety-minute session; most in two or more sessions. All were interviewed individually, with the exception of Ronald and May · Goya, and Violet and Takeshi Hirata, who were interviewed as couples.

Because interviewees were asked to comment on experiences and incidents oftentimes specific to their own lives, no set questionnaire was followed. Rather, a holistic, life history approach was taken, creating biographical case studies centered mainly around interviewees and their communities. The interviews followed a chronological format, beginning with the interviewee's date of birth, childhood, neighborhood/community, education, and work, and progressed to recollections of the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis. At that point, interviewees were asked where they were situated as each succeeding wave hit; who were with them at the time; what they thought, felt, and feared during the ordeal; what they saw, heard, and smelled that day. The interviews then proceeded to deal with the tsunamis' aftermath: the community-wide cleanup, damage assessment, identification of bodies, and reclamation of valuables and other material possessions. Interviews concluded with assessments of the tsunamis' impact on the community and on their own lives.

The interviews were transcribed almost verbatim by COR-trained student transcribers. The transcripts, audio-reviewed by the researchers/interviewers to correct omissions and mistranscriptions, were edited slightly for clarity and historical accuracy.

The transcripts were then sent to interviewees for their review and approval. Interviewees were asked to verify names and dates and clarify statements where necessary. COH incorporated the interviewees' changes in the final version.

Prior to publication, interviewees read and signed a legal document allowing the University of Hawai'i Center for Oral History and the general public scholarly and educational use of the XXX

transcripts. In addition, each interviewee was apprised of his/her rights as human subjects participating in a University of Hawai'i-sponsored research project. They understood that participation in the project was completely voluntary, that they were not required to answer each and every question, and that they could withdraw from participation at any time.

While not always entirely accurate, the aim of an oral history interview is the creation of a reliable and valid primary-source historical document. To achieve this objective, the researchers/interviewers corroborated interviewee statements with available documentation, selected interviewees carefully, established rapport, listened carefully and with empathy, asked thoughtful questions, and obtained permission from interviewees to use their real names, rather than pseudonyms, in this publication.

Instorical Background Commonly but mistakenly called "tidal waves," tsunamis, or literally in Japanese "great harbor waves," are sea waves generated by volcanic eruptions, underwater landslides, or seafloor ruptures associated with earthquakes. Traveling at varying speeds, the ocean-going waves arrive on land as a series of coastal waves, sometimes seven to ten in all, the largest wave usually somewhere in the middle of the set. Most common in the Pacific Ocean because of the large number of eruptions, landslides and earthquakes occurring on the ocean floor, tsunamis have affected Asia, the Pacific Islands, the West Coast of the United States, and Alaska. The Hawai'i-based International Tsunami Information Center has calculated that, since 1813, 112 tsunamis have caused 385 deaths in the Hawaiian Islands alone (The Sunday Star-Bulletin&: Advertiser, September 6, 1992).

In the early morning of April 1, 1946, a massive earthquake occurred in the sea floor of the Aleutian Trench, ninety miles from Unimak Island in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Although the earthquake was recorded on seismographs throughout the world, no one was fully aware that a Pacific-wide tsunami · was generated and heading directly for the Hawaiian Islands, over 2,300 miles away. The first wave reached Kaua'i at approximately 5:55 A.M., O'abu at 6:30, and the Big Island of Hawai'i just before 7:00 (Dudley and Lee, 1998).

Except for the recession of water from Hilo Bay which exposed several hundred feet of ocean floor, there was no sign of impending disaster. Many curious onlookers remained at the ocean front, some venturing onto the exposed coral bottom to pick up flapping fish.

" . . . that particular morning it was a very strange-it must have been sort of a grayish morning, overcasted sides and stuff like that. I can remember that. And while I was walking down, I came by Skipper's Cove, by Waiakea Theater. I saw this great big eel. Not a little eel, big one, look like one snake, eh. But it was coiling and coiling in the middle of the road, you know. And I seen water over there on the road. I knew something strange about this. But people was saying, 'Tldal wave! 1ldal wave! No go school, tidal wave.' • -Alexander Riviera

The waves inundated streets, homes, and storefronts and slammed into wooden two-story buildings along Kamehameha Avenue in Hilo's bayfront business district, reducing them to splinters. Many of those who were not killed by the force of the waves or the debris were swept out to sea by receding water. In addition to much of downtown, the waves destroyed homes in the residential area of Keaukaba, as well as most of the low-lying, teeming residential area known as Shinmachi just north of the Wailoa River xxxi

Bridge. The waves destroyed a railroad bridge which spanned the Wailuku River, and cars and tracks of the Hawaii Consolidated Railway Company, forcing the company out of business.

Meanwhile, to the northwest, waves inundated portions of the agricultural Hamakua Coast. Hakalau Sugar Company mill was destroyed. At Laupahoehoe Point, waves destroyed teachers' residences and flooded school grounds, killing twenty-five people, including sixteen students and five teachers of Laupahoehoe School.

"The wave flipped me over and carried me toward the lava rock wall that rimmed the school. I recall telling myself, 'Gee, I'm going to die. I'm going to hit head first into that rock wall and I'm going to die. ' But miraculously part of the wave that preceded me, smashed into the wall and broke it up. So I went flying through the wall, not headfirst into a stationary wall, but I was rumbling along, rolling along with all the rocks . ... All I know is I was under tons of water and I was getting hit by all these rolling rocks and debris, and I couldn't breathe. I was sixteen but I guess I knew what mortality meant. " -Masuo Kino

In all, the 1946 tsunami killed 159 people throughout the islands. Of this total, only 115 bodies were ever found (Dudley and Lee, 1998). Homes, businesses, roads, railroads, bridges, piers, breakwaters, fishpond walls, and boats were severely damaged. Property damage .totaled approximately $26 million (Dudley and Lee, 1998). The hours and days following the disaster were filled with the horrendous tasks of seeking and identifying bodies, locating valuables and other material possessions, participating in the massive and time-consuming cleanup effort, and dealing with the hardships of sudden homelessness and lost livelihoods.

The tragedy of April 1, 1946 led to the establishment of a communications system to transmit reports on earthquakes and tsunamis in the Pacific. In 1948, the Tsunami Warning System (TWS) was established by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. TWS was in operation during the 1952 and 1957 tsunamis which struck all the Hawaiian Islands. Unlike 1946, residents were warned well before the actual arrival of the tsunamis. Although there was considerable damage, no deaths were reported in either wave.

On May 21 and May 22, 1960, a series of earthquakes occurred in southern Chile. On May 22, at 9:38 A.M. Hawaiian Standard Time, the Honolulu Observatory was notified that the earthquakes had generated a Pacific-wide tsunami. Warnings were sounded several hours prior to the predicted twelve o'clock midnight arrival of the waves. However, many residents failed to take the warnings seriously. Not fully understanding the warning system, many who did evacuate during the day returned to their homes that evening. The town of Hilo was asleep when, at approximately 1:00 A.M., May 23, tsunami waves struck businesses on Kamehameba Avenue and the heavily-populated residential area of Waiakea, claiming 61 lives and causing $50 million in property damage (Dudley and Lee, 1998).

[Our building] was demolished. Nothing left. We had a lot of mufflers and pipes. We had about 300, 400 pipes and mufflers. They were all washed out about 200 feet up the road. And then the building that we occupied, nothing left. And we had a big safe. Oh, weighed about 300 pounds. Small, but olden days, the safe is thick, eh? We couldn't find our safe. And we had lot of things inside there . ... Later on, one guy said, 'Hey, there's one safe way up down the road, ' about 200 or 300 yards up the road. " -Hayato Okino xxxii

"Later in the day, we were called in to a meeting in Hilo. The cleanup was going to be a pretty large operation and there was concern that the state and county just didn't have the manpower or ihe equipment to do it as quickly as it should have been done. There were dead animals, dead people, all sons of reasons for getting Hilo cleaned up as quickly as possible. So the plantations were asked to help . ... These buildings were all sitting there like jumbled miuchsticks. A regular steam shovel had trouble picking that up. That's almost like a pile of sugarcane. Heck, we could just put a grab down there and pick that stuff up. They were also big enough that we could pick up automobiles. . .. We could harvest those cars that were destroyed in that tsunami . .. -Harold P. Luscomb

"We couldn't save anything, and when everything was kind of settled, we went to look at our building . . . nothing we could recognize. . . . The warehouse roof was flat . . We found some cash that we had there, but nothing else. After the tidal wave, we thought-/ said, 'Gee, what we going to do?' But my husband, he had a very strong mind so he said, 'We 'II run the business from our home at 'Ialani Street. ' So the farmers came and they helped us build-we had a four-car garage, next to that, they built that building, temporary. And then we had a refrigerator in there . ... Like the packaged goods, we ran from our downstairs. Everybody helped, my children, our friends, they came and helped. So that's how we staned all over. • -Sadako Suzuki

Following the 1960 tsunami and massive cleanup effort, government and private efforts were made to help victims-residents and business owners-relocate as quickly as possible. Lands were made available by lottery for victims to purchase houselots at low-interest rates. Many businesses relocated to a newly-developed industrial area. Today, areas near the Hilo bayfront devastated by the tsunami have been cleared for parks, beaches, a golf course, and greenbelt open space.

Other major tsunamis affecting the islands occurred in 1964 and 1975. The 1964 waves caused $15,000 damage to Hilo and $52,000 to Kahului, Maui. In 1975, an earthquake off the Big Island generated 40-foot-high waves that struck the south shore of the island, killing two campers at Halape.

It is widely believed that many lives could have been spared had the public been more informed and aware of the catastrophic dangers of tsunamis. Prior to the 1946 disaster, no organized warning system was in place. Because of the widespread loss of life and property in 1946, a territory-wide warning system was put into place and utilized for the 1952 and 1957 tsunamis. The combination of this warning system and the still-fresh memory of 1946 was probably the reason no lives were lost. The successful evasion of disaster in the 1950s may have led to public complacency. Experts believe many of the 61 people who died on May 23, 1960 could have been saved had they taken tsunami warnings more seriously.

Presently, strong efforts are being made by the Hilo community to remain vigilant and to educate residents about the dangers of tsunamis. The Pacific Tsunami Museum opened its doors in 1997 to serve as both a visitor attraction and educational center. The museum provided the principal funding for this oral history project.

The Interviewees The following is a list of individuals interviewed for this oral history project, the years tsunamis xxxiii

impacted their lives, and their communities in those years:

Catherine Diama Campainha, 1946 and 1960, Downtown Hilo Laura Yuen Chock, 1946 and 1960, Downtown Hilo Robert "Steamy" Chow, 1946 and 1960, Downtown Hilo Bunji Fujimoto, 1946, Laupahoehoe Richard Furtado, 1946 and 1960, Keaulcaha *Ronald "Square" and May Toyama Goya, 1946 and 1960, Downtown Hilo Riichi Hatada, 1946, Shinmachi Minerva Saiki Hayakawa, 1946 and 1960, Downtown Hilo Kapua Wall Heuer, 1946, Pukihae Street and Keaukaha *Takeshi Hirata and Violet Olcino Hirata, 1946, Downtown Hilo Jeanne Branch Johnston, 1946, Keaukaha Evelyn Lyn Miyazaki Kagawa, 1960, Downtown Hilo Masuo Kino, 1946, Laupahoehoe James U.C. Low, 1946 and 1960, Downtown Hilo Harold P. Luscomb, 1960, Downtown Hilo and Hamakua Coast Marsue McGinnis McShane, 1946, Laupahoehoe Herbert S. Nishimoto, 1946, Laupahoehoe Hayato Okino, 1923, 1946 and 1960, Downtown Hilo and Waiakea Eloise Ahuna Pung, 1946, Keaukaha Alexander M. Riviera, 1946, Waiakea Kimilco Kuwana Sakai, 1960, Waiikea June Odachi Shigemasa, 1946 and 1960, Shinmachi and Kimiville Albert L. Stanley, 1946, Laupahoehoe Sadako Ishizaki Suzuki, 1960, Waiikea Fusae Tanaka Takaki, 1946, Shinmachi Josephine Nelson Todd, 1946 and 1960, Hilo bayfront Masao Uchima, 1946, Shinmachi Lenore K. Van Gieson, 1946, Keaukaha *interviewed as a couple

An essay written by a Kaua'i resident, James T. Ohashi, is also included in these volumes. Ohashi recounts his experiences living in Nawiliwili on the Garden Island and the damage inflicted by the 1946 tsunami there.

Transcript Usage These volumes of transcripts include a glossary of all non-English and Hawai'i Creole English (HCE) words (which are italicized in the transcripts) and a detailed subject/name index.

There is a series of numbers at the beginning of each transcript. This series includes, in order, a project number, audio cassette number, session number, and year the interview was conducted. For example, 29-12-1-98 identifies COH project number 29, cassette number 12, recorded interview session 1, and the year, 1998.

The interviewees read their transcripts and were asked to make any deletions or additions they considered necessary before releasing them for publication. Interviewee additions/changes are in parentheses ( ). Minor editing for clarification and historical accuracy was done by the COH staff. xxxiv

Every attempt was made to not alter the flavor and authenticity of the interviews while editing. COH staff additions are noted by brackets [ ]. A three-dot ellipsis indicates an interruption; a four-dot . ellipsis indicates a trail-off by a speaker. Three dashes indicate a false start.

These transcripts represent statements the interviewees wish t.u leave for the public record. After reviewing and approving publication of the transcripts, the interviewees signed the following agreement:

In order to preserve and make available the history of Hawai'ifor present and .future generations, I hereby give and grant to the University of Hawai'i Center for Oral History as a donation for such scholarly and educational purposes as the Center Director shall determine, all my rights, title, and interest to the tapes and edited transcripts of interviews.

In addition, the methodology used in this research project was approved by the University of Hawai'i Committee on Human Studies Ad Hoc Review Committee. Federal law requires that interviewees be apprised of their rights as human subjects prior to interviewing.

Transcript Availability These transcripts are the primary documents presently available for research purposes. The audio cassettes are in storage and not available for use, unless written permission is obtained from the Center for Oral History.

Copies of this transcript volume are available at the following locations:

Hawai'i O'ahu (continued) Hawai'i Public Library (Hilo) Kaimuki Public Library Kailua-Kona Public Library Kine'ohe Public Library Kealakekua Community Library Pearl City Public Library University of Hawai'i at Hilo Library Honolulu Community College Library Kapi'olani Community College Library Kaua'i Leeward Community College Library Lihu'e Public Library Windward Community College Library Kaua'i Community College Library University of Hawai' i at Manoa Center for Oral History Lana'i Ethnic Studies Program Lina'i Public and School Library Hamilton Library University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu Library Maui Hawai'i State Archives Maui Public Library (Wailuku) Maui Community College Library

Moloka'i Mololca'i Public Library

O'ahu Bishop Museum Library Hawai' i State Library XXXV

COH publications include:

Transcript collections Waialua and Hale 'iwa: The People Tell Their Story (1977) Life Histories of Native Hawaiians (1978) Remembering Kaka'ako: 1910-1950 (1978) Waipi 'o: Mtlno Wai (Source of Life) (1978) The 1924 Filipino Strike on Kaua 'i (1979) Women Workers in Hawai'i's Pineapple Industry (1979) Stores and Storekeepers of Ptl'ia and Pu'untnt, Maui (1980) A Social History of Kona (1981) Five Life Histories (1983) Kalihi: Place of Transition (1984) Waiktkf, 1910-1985: Oral Histories (1985) Ka Po 'e Kau Lei: An Oral History of Hawai 'i 's Lei Sellers (1986) Perspectives on Hawai'i's Statehood (1986) Kt1/oa: An Oral History of a Kaua 'i Community (1988) Ltlna'i Ranch: The People of Kt1'ele and Ket1muku (1989) Oral Histories of African Americans (1990) The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts: An Oral History (1991) Public Education in Hawai'i: Oral Histories (1991) . 'Ualapu'e, Moloka'i: Oral Histories from the East End (1991) An Era of Change: Oral Histories of Civilians in World War II Hawai'i (1994) Hawai'i Political History Documentation Project (1996) The Qosing of Sugar Plantations: Interviews with Families of Htlm4kua and Ka'a, Hawai'i (1997) Presidents of the University of Hawai 'i: Harlan Qeveland (1997) Presidents of the University of Hawai'i: Fujio Matsuda (1998) Reflections of Ptllama Settlement (1998) I'i/Brown Family: Oral Histories (1999)

Books Uchinanchu: A History of 0/dnawans in Hawai'i. Published in cooperation with the United Okinawan Association (1981) Hanahana: An Oral History Anthology of Hawai'i's Working People (1984)

Finding Aids Catalog of Oral History Collections in Hawai'i (1981) Catalog of the ESOHP Collection, 1976-1984 (1984) Master Index to the ESOHP Interviews, 1976-1983 (1984)

Other Publications How To Do Oral History (Second Edition, Revised 1989) Oral History Recorder newsletter (1984-.)

The staff of the Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, believes that researching, recording, and disseminating the experiences of Hawai'i's people xxxvi

will stimulate further research and foster a better understanding of our islands' history. COH is responsible for any errors in representing or interpreting the statements of the interviewees.

Honolulu, Hawai'i April, 2000