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Pacific Tsunami Museum Inc
Categories: Landmarks & Historical Buildings, Tours, Museums [Edit]
130 Kamehameha AveHilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-0926
2 reviews for Pacific Tsunami Museum Inc
This museum will disappoint you if you are looking for lots of funky buttons designed to teach you science concepts suitable for an eight-year-old. If you've looking to understand Hilo and how it has been shaped by these natural disasters, this museum will enrich you with its exhibits, story walls, movie, and oral histories that are easily accessed via computer screens spread throughout the former bank. The point the exhibits make is that tsunamis aren't an adventure or spectacle but an unavoidable disaster that cost lives. Truth hurts some, raises the awareness of others.
The unique nature of this museum gave the founders so much room for creativity that the result is incredibly disappointing. Even the exhibits that seemed as if they might have a small degree of excitement left me thinking I could have created better with a shoebox and a few glasses of water. I did enjoy learning about Mark Twain's influence in the islands, but that seemed somewhat irrelevant to the museum's subject, and I would have felt gypped had it not been raining and the museum had afforded some shelter. Plus, the docents didn't mind that I recharged my camera batteries. An extra star for friendliness!
But someone needs to come through and bring the exhibits up to 21st-century standards. Until then, I'll do my tsunami research online and save the admission free.