History — May 30, 2009 1:14 — View Comments Written by: Jan

Remembering our Past: The 1960 Hilo Tsunami (PART I)

1960 Hilo Tsunami

On May 23, 1960—a full 49 years ago—the waters of Hilo Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii, swept through the small town. A tsunami, the Japanese term for tidal wave, was generated by an 8.3 magnitude earthquake in Chile, South America. The waters receded and then rose just a few feet at first, causing many inquisitive locals to venture towards the waterfront to watch the water rise. The subsequent waves however, were devastating. Reaching approximately 35 feet high and annihilating everything in it’s path, the tsunami consumed Hilo town with a raucous roar. Over $23 million dollars in damage was reported, along with 61 lives lost.

hilo meters Remembering our Past: The 1960 Hilo Tsunami (PART I)

In 1960, my mother Helen Hongo was living in Waiakea Town with my father, Manabu Hongo (a Hilo native) and my oldest sister Roxanne Hongo Iglesia, who was just 2 years old at the time. Here, my mother recollects her memories of the tsunami:

Tell me about the things leading up to the tsunami.

Helen Hongo: Oh, it was a nice normal day. Nobody thought of a tsunami. Oh, and I was looking forward to Aunty Edith, cause she was coming to visit me, ah? And, I dunno? It was just like a regular day.

What did you do to prepare for Aunty coming? Did you do anything special?

Well of course I had cleaned the house, you know, and prepared some food-dinner-cause she came in late, huh? Yeah.

And where were you living at the time?

In Waiakea.

Do you remember what the address was?

Ah (laughter), I kinda long time, I forget.

How far were you from the beach?

Let’s, see, our house. Maybe from here to um, the next street over? I don’t know how many feet you would say?

Less than a football field away from the beach?

Uh, from the beach, from the beach, yeah, little less than a football field. But that’s how terrible the wave was.

So from your house could you tell, did more than one wave come and recede, come and recede?

Yeah, three or four big waves. Because, while we were in Uncle Taiyo’s house we looked down we see the water receding, all of a sudden you see things floating around again in front of you!

Who were your neighbors?

Uh, Uncle Taiyo, Aunty Kitty, we were right in the middle see? Three houses in a row. And across the street, Mrs. Nabeta and ahhh, I forget what the name of that family was–and Mizukami–that was about it, and the school, it was right there–Waiakea Elementary.

Okay, so describe to me what happened when the tsunami hit. I mean, that evening.

Yeah, that evening, okay. What I can remember is um, there was talk that there was going to be a tsunami, right? But, before when they had tsunami warnings, the people didn’t take it seriously, because it was always just like April Fools, I mean it never happened. So when this time they were talking about the tsunami, everyone just listened to the radio and then um, the announcer said that they were expecting a tsunami and that it’s going to be a pretty big one, so to prepare right? To evacuate and all that. And then another time, another announcer said oh, they don’t think it’s going to be that serious, so just wait for the emergency siren, yah? So, you know, not being a Hilo, a person that was raised in Hilo and not being familiar with tsunamis like that right, didn’t take it too seriously yeah? Even grandpa [referring to my father] , he’s a Hilo boy, but he said, “Nah, I don’t think, you know, that it’s going to be that bad.” So we said well, let’s go sleep then, already, cause we were up kinda late cause kinda afraid of what might happen, but because the announcer made it sound like it wasn’t such an urgent thing, we went to bed.

Did you hear any sirens, in that 1960 tsunami?

No, no, no, no. And then, I think it was about 12:30, or almost 1:00 in the morning, anyway between 12:00 and 1:00, 1:30. I got up suddenly cause I heard just like a train, you know a freight train coming and I was thinking “Gee, how come you know, that sound, no more a trains where we live, not near a railroad track or anything.” But it was, it sounded like that, and I jumped out of bed and woke up grandpa [my father], and I told him, “Oh! I think that’s tidal wave you know!” And then all of a sudden the lights went out, and you can hear the, you can see the sparks flying and you can hear the you know, the whooosh and all that and then you could hear the waves coming. So we looked out the window, but was so dark already because the lights all went out, ah?

So, the first thing I did was pick up Roxanne because she was still, what, how old was she? Two or three, yeah.

And then Aunty of course, you know, we had to worry about her too. So, being that this is the first time she came to the house, she ran into our hall closet thinking it was the door to go out (laughter). And then she was yelling, “I don’t know where I am! Helen! Helen!” (laughter). You know, cause the house is dark right?

And, grandpa [my father] was kind of dopey because he was sleeping so soundly (laughter). He couldn’t hardly put on his pants, you know, you sleep with shorts, ah? He was having a hard time pulling up his pants (laughter)!

Oh, and then we said “We better get out already!” So, we had an old station wagon, so we went out to the garage and as soon as the three of us got in, with Roxanne, we could feel water coming into the car from the bottom up. And grandpa tried, he backed out trying to get out, to drive away.

But, before we could do that, the big wave came and pushed the car, turned us around, and then the water really came up high you know, and I had Roxanne and we couldn’t stay in the car otherwise we’re going to drown in the car right? Cause we had rolled up the windows thinking that would help, you know? So, we rolled down the windows, and I, grandpa got out first, and I climbed out through the window, of course, I gave Roxanne to him and he had her on his shoulders and I got out and Aunty got out.

And because Uncle Taiyo’s house right there yeah, and his house is like a two-story, he had not exactly like a full basement, but an open basement, like, and so before we climbed, went to his house to get on his steps, Roxanne cried because she was so cold right, her legs were wet and everything. And, anyway, I stepped on something, it was real sharp but we didn’t want to stop and wait, right? But in the meantime, looking around in that short time, we could see ice boxes floating by and stoves and you know, debris. I tell you, it was just like a nightmare, you know!

Story to be continued…