#Jeanne Johnston

“April 1—April Fool’s Day—78 years ago a magnitude 8.6 earthquake from the Aleutian Islands generated a tsunami that took about four-and-a-half hours to hit our state,” said Laura Kong, Ph.D., director of International Tsunami Information Center. “By 6:30 a.m., waves that would reach 53 feet on the Big Island, 33 feet on Maui, 54 feet on Molokaʻi, 35 feet on Oʻahu and 45 feet on Kauaʻi, began to arrive.” The event resulted in $340 million in damage and the loss of nearly 159 people in the state, 96 in Hilo.