Hilo museum to celebrate World Tsunami Awareness Day on Saturday

The Pacific Tsunami Museum on Saturday will host special presentations for children and adults to celebrate World Tsunami Awareness Day.

The day will include keiki story sessions starting at 10:30 a.m. by longtime museum docent and retired educator Dian Mahoney, and at 1:30 p.m. there will be a tsunami science and history discussion by tsunami expert, museum co-founder and emeritus professor Walt Dudley.

“We’re always very excited to share tsunami stories and important information so our community is kept aware and knows how to prepare for the next tsunami,” museum board member Jim Wilson said in a press release.

World Tsunami Awareness Day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 to bring awareness to one of the deadliest and costliest natural hazards known to man.

Its chosen date, Nov. 5, is based on the heroic efforts of Hamaguchi Goryo, who saved his fellow villagers by setting fire to his rice fields on that day in 1854. The fire guided his community to higher ground, safely away from an incoming tsunami that struck Hirogawa, Japan.

The Hilo-based Pacific Tsunami Museum is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to promote public tsunami education for the people of Hawaii and visitors worldwide, preserve the social and cultural history of Hawaii, and serve as a living memorial to those who lost their lives in past tsunami events.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Phone: (808) 935-0926. Web: tsunami.org.