Hawaii Hazard Mitigation Forum: Mother Nature

Local Hurricane Mitigation Activities on Oahu:

The Oahu Civil Defense Agency has responsibility for administering and operating the various local, state, and Federal civil defense programs for the County.

Mitigation activities include:

Public education and personal presentations to schools, military groups.
Supporting a bill before that requires future public buildings be hurricane resistant to serve as a shelter
Maintaining sirens operations
Receiving money from FEMA for a broad range of hazard mitigation projects with public sector and utilities

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.

Department of Planning & Permitting

Mitigation activities include:

Adopting the 1997 Uniform Building Code (UBC) in the year 2000
Establishing structural design requirements from lateral forces (wind, earthquake). Varies depending on zone. Refer to maps within the UBC.

Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes

The Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes (CSAV) is a training and outreach program established by the Hawaii State Legislature in 1989. Located in the UH-Hilo Geology Building, CSAV’s mission is to provide training and information on volcanic and natural hazards that occur in Hawaii and worldwide.

Mitigation activities include:

Symposia for teachers for credit - brainstorm lesson plans (science and preparedness), informal discussions and lectures

Department of Health, Solid and Hazardous Waster Branch

The mission of the Solid Waste Branch is to protect Hawaii's lands from pollutants that endanger people and the environment, and to rehabilitate contaminated lands. To insure the environmentally sound and economically cost effective management of all solid and hazardous waste generated within the State through the promotion of pollution prevention and waste minimization activities, the development of proactive partnerships with both generators and the regulated community and the prevention of releases or threats of releases of petroleum, hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants into the environment through aggressive enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.

Mitigation activities include:

Model potential debris generation and suggest BMP
Create one statewide plan, and provide a shell for each county

Department of Education

Mitigation activities include:

Work with State Civil Defense to establish design requirements to harden public school buildings.

DBEDT, Energy, Resources, and Technology Branch

The Energy Resources and Technology Division of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism is responsible for designing a plan to promote conservation of energy and promotion of commercialization of Hawaii's sustainable energy resources and technology to reduce the State's high dependency on imported oil.

Mitigation activities include:

Survey of emergency Generators in Hawaii’s emergency and Essential Seville facilities 9with FEMA)
Phase 2 Assessment of Hawaii’s Emergency and Essential Service Facilities having a requirement for emergency generator support
Hawaii Energy Strategy 2000 will report on project results of recommendations based on the statewide, two-part hazard, mitigation study of energy systems vulnerabilities. The first part was completed by the Office of Emergency Management, US Department of Energy (9/96), and recommended actions to mitigate energy system vulnerability to hurricanes, volcanic and seismic events, and extreme winds. The USCOE report, the second part, Coastal Hazard Mitigation Study for Energy and Lifeline Facilities, is currently being finalized for publication with FEMA.

US Coast Guard

Mitigation activities include

Have detailed plans for hurricanes, tsunamis, etcetera - Each May hold a statewide exercises and for contingency planning.
April 1999 - with hold a cruise ship disaster exercise.
Coast Guard Auxiliary - educates small boaters on safety conducts voluntary inspections.

Hawaiian Electric Company

Mitigation activities include:

Conduct joint exercises with the State Civil Defense
Completed Emergency Response Plan · Conducted “table top” exercise and a functional test with employees
Increase amount of fuel included in its rate base from 30 to 35 days - will propose in next rate-making proceeding
Strongly considering options to diversify fuel
Joint Pole committee

American Red Cross - Hawaii Chapter

American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization, led by volunteers, that provides relief to victims of disasters and helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Mitigation activities include:

Identify shelter manages and train
Community outreach - family survival kit, emergency supply kit

Structural Engineers Association of Hawaii

Mitigation activities include:

Quantitative criteria defining a minimum level of structural capacity should be established to determine structurally ‘unsafe’ buildings
Technical assistance in developing an abatement ordinance which balances hazard reduction and economic concerns

Honolulu City & County