The Hawaiian city devastated by the 1960 Chile tsunami was Hilo. The tsunami crossed more than 10,000 kilometres of the Pacific after the magnitude 9.5 Valdivia earthquake struck Chile on 22 May 1960.
Hilo’s location and bay shape amplified the incoming waves, making the city especially vulnerable. The first major waves arrived about 15 hours after the earthquake, reaching heights of roughly 10.7 metres in the area and killing 61 people.
This event is sometimes confused with the 1946 Aleutian tsunami, which also devastated Hilo and helped lead to the creation of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The 1960 tsunami also struck Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand and other Pacific locations.