This photo shows a view of the Halapē coast after the 1975 tsunami. The coconut grove is standing in the sea as a result of the subsidence of the shoreline.

On November 29, 1975, the island of Hawai‛i was jolted awake by a 7.2 earthquake centered beneath Kilauea's south flank, causing a sudden movement of the seafloor off the southeast coast of Hawaii. Halapē was right over the epicenter of the quake. Thirty campers were in the area, including a boy scout troop, fishermen, and Sierra Club members. Five minutes after the shaking stopped, a twenty-five-foot wave washed them in, resulting in the deaths of the scout leader and a fisherman. Nineteen others were severely injured. Coincident with the earthquake, ground along the shoreline subsided by up to ten feet, submerging much of the palm grove. A new exhibit entitled "Locally-Generated Tsunamis" has opened at the museum and features the events at Halapē as well as displays on Lituya Bay and Newfoundland.