Post-Tsunami Urban Recovery Plan and Recent Situation in Hilo, Hawaii

On-site Report on the 50th Anniversary of the 1960 Chilean Tsunami

Abstract

The City of Hilo, a tsunami-prone city in Hawaii, received devastating damage twice in the twentieth century, by the 1946 Aleutian Tsunami and the 1960 Chilean Tsunami. After the two tsunamis, the affected residential districts along Hilo Bay were changed into attractive public open areas, including parks, parking space, athletic fields, and golf course, under Kaikoo Project, an urban renewal plan to mitigate future tsunami damage in Hilo. This paper presents what happened after tsunamis and how the physical environment, according to the 1940 master plan and the Kaikoo Project, had been changed through experiences of tsunamis since the early twentieth century. Also it introduces recent situation of the city as of May 2010, the year of the fiftieth Anniversary of the 1960 Chilean Tsunami.