Hawaiʻi Information

April is Tsunami Awareness Month in Hawaiʻi.  Click here for 2025 Hawaiʻi Tsunami Awareness Month Events

*NEW*  April 29, 2025 - University of Hawaiʻi: News Release; News Story 
*NEW*  April 29, 2025 - KITV News: Preparing for a tsunami: UH shares new 2025 tsunami preparedness video

Since the 1990s, Hawaiʻi has used April as Tsunami Awareness Month. Federal, State, and Local government agencies, the Pacific Tsunami Museum, and other non-profit organizations team together to sponsor awareness and outreach events aimed at sustaining awareness of Hawaiʻi's tsunami hazards. The April 1, 1946 (April Fool's day) tsunami from the Aleutian islands surprised the State, which was without a tsunami warning system, killing 158 persons. As a result, the US started the US Seismic Sea Wave Warning System in 1949, which today is known as the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC).

For PTWC Tsunami Warning messages, click here.  

For State and County Emergency Information, click here.

For more Tsunamis, follow ITIC on Facebook.

Tsunami Facts is a statewide brochure, customized by County, and in multiple languages. The ʻFactsʻ are the most common outreach questions.  Languages cover the non-English speaking population, who speak a language other than English at home in Hawaiʻi (U.S. Census Bureau, Hawaiʻi DBEDT, 2016).
 

This Hawai‘i Tsunami Preparedness Video was updated in 2025.
Topics covered are: 1) tsunami science; 2) local, distant and extreme tsunamis and evacuation zones; 3) tsunami alerts through the County emergency notification apps, the Statewide Emergency Alert System (all-hazard outdoorwarning sirens, the Wireless Emergency Alert System and the local media); and 4) family emergency preparedness, such as having an evacuation kit and a plan whether you are at home, work or school.

ʻōlelo Noʻeau ‘Iliki ke kai... Audio (courtesy Kauaʻi EMA) Signs of Tsunami  (Walker 2018)

Tsunamis in Hawaiʻi  (Walker, ITIC, 2013, 2020)

Hawaiʻi Historical Tsunami Effects 1812-2022   (NCEI, ITIC, 2015, 2022)

Distribution of Tsunamis affecting Hawai‘i (1812-2025) (ITIC, NCEI, 2025)	Tsunamis in Hawai‘i   (observed>3 ft)  (Walker, ITIC, 2013, 2020)	Tsunamis in Hawaiʻi (all observed) 18-12-2022 (NCEI, ITIC, 2015, 2022)
	Hawaiʻi Maximum Tsunami Runups (1900-2025) (Walker, ITIC, 2013, 2020, 2025)	Tsunami Deaths and Damage 1812-2022 (>$0.5 million) (NCEI, ITIC, 2015, 2022)

Tsunami Essentials historical observations of events (Walker 2017)	Tsunami Run-up Maps Kaua‘i historical observations (Walker, ITIC 2013)	Tsunami Run-up Maps O‘ahu historical observations (Walker, ITIC 2013)
Tsunami Run-up Maps Maui historical observations (Walker, ITIC, 2013)	Run-up Maps Moloka‘i & Lana‘i historical observations (Walker, ITIC 2013)	Tsunami Run-up Maps Hawaiʻi historical observations (Walker, ITIC 2013)

Tsunamis Impacting Kaua‘i, Hawaiʻi (View on YouTube) (video, ITIC 2018)	Tsunamis Impacting O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi (View on YouTube) (video, ITIC 2018)
Tsunamis Impacting Maui, Hawaiʻi (View on YouTube) (video, ITIC 2018)	Tsunamis Impacting Hawaiʻi Island (View on YouTube) (video, ITIC 2018)
Tsunami Vertical Evacuation, Waikiki, Hawaiʻi (video, UNDRR 2020)

Links

Federal / National