Hawaii County Civil Defense

The role of the Civil Defense Agency is to direct and coordinate the development and administration of the County's total emergency preparedness and response program to ensure prompt and effective action when natural or man-caused disaster threatens or occurs anywhere in the County of Hawaii

Project Impact - Hawaii

The goals of Project Impact is to bring communities together to take actions that prepare for and protect themselves against natural disasters in a collaborative effort.

Mitigation Activites:

1. Identifying and building partnerships with local businesses and agencies,
2. Completing a hazard mitigation survey and plan for the entire island,
3. Conducting a community disaster education and preparedness program,
4. Enhancing the island-wide communication and warning system and,
5. Completing an energy management program.

Hawaii County Planning Department

The 1991 Uniform Building Code has been adopted by the County of Hawaii. These codes are the government's official statement on building safety. By properly designing or retrofitting your home to comply with the Code, you can help protect your home or business from disaster due to fire, hurricanes, or flooding.

State Civil Defense

Responsibility of all disasters or major crises in the State of Hawaii begins at the county level. As the disaster or crisis develops, the State Civil Defense System provides the operational infrastructure and procedures to apply additional resources to meet the demands of the emergency from all appropriate levels of government.

Mitigation Activities:

State Department of Education

The Department of Education works with the State Civil Defense to establish design requirements to harden public school buildings.

State Department of Health, the Solid Waste Division

The Solid Waste Division of the Department of Health is responsible for modeling potential debris generation and suggest the Best Management Practice.

Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes

The Center conducts public symposiums at the University of Hawaii at Hilo to discuss impacts of natural hazards, mitigation measures, and policy/warning systems. They plan symposia for teachers for credit. They also conduct presentations to 4th and 6th grade classes and community associations on earthquake preparedness.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

"The goal of the USGS is to make certain that emergency managers have the critical scientific data they need to make informed decisions on the safety issues that surround hurricanes and other natural hazards, decisions that must be made quickly and can have a significant impact on lives and property, " Charles G. Groat, Director of the USGS.

Mitigation Activities:

• Revised their coastal storm-response plan, which sets the guidelines for forming a storm-response team. This team ensures the timely and efficient collection and distribution of USGS data that is critical for use by emergency management officials at the local, state an dfederal level
• Provide "real-time" stream data (stage and volume of water) from many locations around the country so that the National Weather Service and other governemtn agencies can issue flood warnings more responsibly. These real-time stations can be viewed at http://water.usgs.gov/realtime.html on the Internet.
• Gather baseline information on natural resources along the coast before a storm hits so that they can compare the resources after the storm. for example,by mapping the habitat of wetlands by aerial photography before and after a storm, it allows biologists to better understand the possible effects of a hurricane on species, food supply and living conditions.