Tsunamis have killed more people in Hawaii than any other form of natural disaster, yet basic tsunami education — from signs of an approaching one to what to do when it comes — is severely lacking in the Islands. Located in downtown Hilo on the Island of Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Museum was initially founded 30 years ago to fill that void — a hub for education and awareness that contends “no one should die due to a tsunami.” The museum is filled with photos and videos of tsunamis that have hit Hawaii and other parts of the Pacific, along with a large archive of firsthand interviews with survivors.
Hawaii
Striking Hilton Hawaiian Village workers could set standard for hotel industry
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii now has two major labor disputes at two of its biggest industries.
While nurses remain locked out at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, workers at Hawaii’s biggest resort started what could be long strike.
At 5 a.m. Tuesday, about 1,800 UNITE HERE Local 5 workers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village walked off the job.
They’re seeking wage and staff increases but, unlike limited strikes this year, the union says this time, it’s for good. Their strike won’t end until they actually have an agreement with Hilton, according to the union’s financial secretary-treasurer, Cade Watanabe.
“It is significantly important for setting the standard for all of hotel workers in Hawaii,” he said.
Watanabe said because the Hilton Hawaiian Village is the largest hotel in Hawaii and the largest of the Hilton chain, it could set the pattern for other hotels in Hawaii and on the mainland, where UNITE HERE is seeking the same things.
“We need wages to be able to get ahead, not just get by, and we need a real commitment to address persistent workload staffing cuts,” Watanabe said.
Housekeeper Nely Reinante said fewer staff and higher standards have harmed her physically and emotionally.
She was afraid to strike at first, but “I don’t let the fear or the scary moments ruin my life,” she said. “I want to take it as a challenge, as motivation for me to continue fighting, not only for myself, but for the whole workers, for the whole community, and, of course, for my family.”
Other workers and union leaders say staffing levels make it impossible to meet the expectations of guests paying hundreds of dollars a day for their rooms.
Its day one, so guests said they haven’t been affected much. Some, like Elly Sukup of Washington, D.C., say they support the workers.
“I’m more concerned about the people and what they’re fighting for then, and if it affects me, well, that’s okay,” she said.
The Hilton strike mirrors walkouts across the nation, hitting top brands Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott, because the union believes the investment funds that own the properties will get the message.
“That’s an entity that doesn’t have the same kind of accountability that maybe a local owner or hotelier used to have decades ago,” Watanabe said. “Our industry has changed so drastically that the only way in which that we can defend workers and defend our communities is really to make sure that workers in every one of our cities are in the mix and part of the collective push.”
But hospitality consultant Keith Vieira of KV and Associates said investment firms often finance union pension funds and are sympathetic owners.
“Private equity is very different from some of the past owners,” Vieira said. “Then you have owners like Kyo-ya (Hotels & Resorts) that have owned it for 70-plus years, and they hope to for another 70 years, so they absolutely want to do the right thing.
“They’re also expected to clearly do the right ethical thing and not try to, you know, scrape by,” he said.
The union said hotel revenues are at record highs here and the companies can afford full staffing, but Vieira said with occupancy down in Hawaii, it’s hard to justify and understaffing could harm the brands.
“It makes no sense to cut back staffing on them in order to save a couple of dollars an hour from this great customer. Hawaii has had a good reputation,” Vieira said.
Hilton issued the following statement:
“Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort makes every effort to maintain a cooperative and productive relationship with UNITE HERE Local 5, a union that represents some of our Team Members. We remain committed to negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable agreement that is beneficial to both our valued Team Members and our hotel.
“We are also fully committed to providing guests with our signature hospitality and we have contingency plans in place to ensure operations continue to run as smoothly as possible.”
Given the union pledge to remain on strike until an agreement is reached, Watanabe said, “That could be pretty long, but our members understand that sacrifice.”
Watanabe said because it’s been six years since there was a lengthy strike in Hawaii, the union has built up both local and national strike funds to help workers sustain themselves for a long walkout.
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Located in downtown Hilo in a historic art deco building, the Pacific Tsunami Museum fronts Hilo Bay, where past tsunamis devastated the town.
Courtesy Pacific Tsunami Museum
Now, it’s at risk of closing its doors for good.
Earlier this month, the Pacific Tsunami Museum laid off all 10 of its employees and suspended operations. Former staff are now volunteering their time to keep the doors open on a reduced schedule.
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“We have several problems,” Walter Dudley told SFGATE. Dudley co-founded the museum with tsunami survivor Jeanne Johnston in 1994 to educate residents and visitors about the natural disaster and to serve as a living memorial to those who lost their lives.
The museum is filled with exhibits, sharing the history of major tsunami events in the Islands and across the Pacific.
Courtesy Pacific Tsunami MuseumThe museum’s 100-year-old historic building, which was donated to the organization in 1997, is expensive to maintain. “The AC died and cost us way outside our budget,” Dudley said. “The roof sprung a leak and we used our entire supplemental budget to fix that and clear up mold because, you know, Hilo is on the rainy side.”
Dudley doesn’t want to see the museum close completely. “Sadly, that’s one possibility,” he said. “I mean, we all hope that doesn’t happen, but unless we get some, you know, some serious help for the issues that we do have, that’s the worst-case scenario.”
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The museum needs monetary donations to fix up the building and to pay the staff so that it can reopen. “As the years go by, a lot of survivors who were many of our biggest supporters have passed away,” Dudley continued. “They’re no longer around, and that actually makes our mission all that much important because people tend to forget that tsunamis are a true and present danger in Hawaii.”
The last deadly Hawaii tsunami was in 1975, when an earthquake off the coast of the Island of Hawaii generated large waves within seconds that killed two people. In 1960, a tsunami resulting from a 9.5 Chilean earthquake killed 61 people in Hilo.
The deadliest tsunami to hit Hawaii in modern history was on April 1, 1946, when a magnitude 8.6 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska triggered a tsunami with waves reaching heights of 55 feet. At least 159 people were killed throughout the Hawaiian island chain. The greatest loss of life was in Hilo, where an estimated 96 people died.
On April 1, 1946, in downtown Hilo, people are running from the third wave, estimated to be 30 feet high.
Courtesy Pacific Tsunami MuseumBecause there are spans of years between major tsunami events, education is important to remind people of Hawaii’s tsunami history and risks — and to take them seriously.
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“There’s an apathy around knowing and believing it will happen again. And it will happen again. It absolutely will,” Cindi Preller, director of the Pacific Tsunami Museum, told SFGATE. “The earth’s tectonics don’t change. It’s just unpredictable, it’s unknowable. And for the local tsunami, it can arrive in just a few minutes, so it’s really, really, really important that people know nature’s warning signs as well as the official warning signs.”
The Pacific Tsunami Museum’s mission is to educate the public about the dangers of tsunamis and to serve as a living memorial for those who have died.
Courtesy Pacific Tsunami MuseumPreller, who is now working as a volunteer alongside her staff, said visitor numbers were fine but building repairs have set them back. “If we were going to really restore this building, that would cost millions,” she said.
Through it all, Preller remains focused on the mission of the museum. She wants to revitalize the space and would like to see a new generation come in and help rebuild and do new things with the exhibits.
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“We need to strategically plan and create,” she said. “We just need to really revitalize and shake things up and create a plan so that we never ever have to shutter again.”
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii nonprofits that provide critical social safety nets are facing economic hardship of their own.
President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is expected to slash federal appropriations, government contracts and grant awards, and heavily impact social services across the state.
Melissa Pavlicek, Hawaii True Cost Coalition, explained, “The community-based organizations that are providing key government services are already struggling to provide those services. Some of their contract prices have not increased in over 10 years. The cost to provide those services is significantly greater. The transportation costs, rent, employees, food, everything has gone up. And to serve the community costs more. So we’re looking to our state policy leaders to help ensure those services are continued.”
To mitigate the potential fallout or disruption of services, nonprofit leaders are working to fill the gaps with the help of lawmakers, private donors, philanthropy, corporate foundations and residents themselves.
Suzanne Skjold, Aloha United Way COO, said, “Whether that’s helping your neighbor, maybe donating to a charity that is losing a program, even getting involved politically, locally, you know, voting matters. Being involved in our legislature matters.”
“The slack really has to be picked up by the state and county governments as well as the private sector,” warned U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, “and so these are gonna be tough times and I’m telling everybody, hey, let’s, not sugarcoat this. We have to be prepared for the unexpected.”
Another concern is legislation that some believe if passed could be used to target progressive nonprofits opposed by the Trump administration.
For now, community advocates are urged to keep calm.
Case said, “The first thing I would advise everybody is not to freak out. That we have been through changes in administration before. That these are core federal programs that within Congress, even a divided and polarized Congress, many, many people from both parties support these programs.”
“We want to make sure Hawaii doesn’t become the kind of place where we lead in a way that’s hateful to others,” Skjold said.
Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
The National Park Service is warning parents to keep their children close after a toddler ran toward the edge of a 400-foot-tall cliff at Hawaii National Park on Christmas.
The young boy was at the park with his family to view the eruption of the Kilauea volcano. They were in a closed area at Kilauea Overlook when he wandered away from his family before the “near miss.” His mother, screaming, managed to grab him just about a foot away from a fatal fall.
“Park rangers remind visitors to stay on trail, stay out of closed areas and to keep their children close, especially when watching Kīlauea from viewpoints along Crater Rim Trail. Those who ignore the warnings, walk past closure signs, lose track of loved ones, and sneak into closed areas to get a closer look do so at great risk,” the agency warned.
Rangers noted that dangers escalate during volcanic eruptions, as people flock to view the spectacle of lava flowing out of the Earth’s crust. The Park Service urged drivers to slow, and watch out for pedestrians, Hawaiian geese, and switch to low beams when other cars and pedestrians are present.
The eruption, which started on December 23, is now in its second pause, according to the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. But, it could still restart at any time.
Furthermore, emissions of toxic gas remain high, including particulate matter called tephra. Billions of minuscule pieces of tephra, which include all fragments of rock ejected into the air by an erupting volcano, can be carried on winds for thousands of miles and can cause respiratory issues. Volcanoes also produce dangerous gases, like carbon dioxide and hydrogen chloride.
Tephra has blanketed the closed portion of Crater Rim Drive downwind of the lava.
“The hazards that coincide with an eruption are dangerous, and we have safety measures in place including closed areas, barriers, closure signs, and traffic management,” Park Superintendent Rhonda Loh said in a statement.
“Your safety is our utmost concern, but we rely on everyone to recreate responsibility. National parks showcase nature’s splendor but they are not playgrounds,” she said.
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