SHINING STARS
Tsunami tour wins quake council award
The
Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo is being recognized by a mainland organization for creating an educational tour of Big Island areas devastated by seismic ocean waves in 1946 and 1960.
The Western States Seismic Policy Council is due to present the award in October in Reno, Nev.
The tour -- "The East Hawaii Driving and Walking Tour of Historical Tsunami Sites" -- won first place in the nonprofit agency category, museum Director Donna Saiki said.
The museum uses stories, survivor quotes, and historic photographs to help visitors understand the destruction wrought by tsunamis that struck East Hawaii on April 1, 1946, and May 22, 1960.
The Hawaiian Electric Industries Charitable Foundation awarded $5,000 to the Friends of Fleming Arboretum to help build a storage facility and restroom at the D.T. Fleming Arboretum at Puu Mahoe. The arboretum is Maui's oldest and largest source of rare dry-land native plants and seeds that benefit statewide projects.
The Atherton Family Foundation, the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation, the Cooke Foundation, Bank of Hawaii and the Alexander & Baldwin Foundation have also contributed to permitting and construction costs.
Shining Stars appears several times a week in the Star-Bulletin