It depends on which island you're on. I'm going to Kauai in August. The last time I was there, Iniki hit a week after I left. If you're on another island, you should be fine. I've never caused a natural catastrophe on any of the other islands.
Being born and raised here, I went through Hurricanes Ewa (1982) and Iniki (1992). You're right, not a whole lot happened in urban Honolulu in either case besides some wind and water damage, certainly minor compared to what parts of Japan went through during the tsunami in 2011. The last tsunami that most here remember doing significant damage is the one that hit the Big Island during the 60's. This place certainly has been fortunate to have avoided catastrophe so far.
But the lure of cheaper (and better) homes, schools (for the most part), food, and just better logistics (threat of a strike at whatever critical port on the west coast or hurricane approaching = everyone here hoards toilet paper, bottled water, and rice) is strong....