 Welcome to Think Tech on Spectrum OC16, Hawaii's weekly newscast on things that matter to tech and to Hawaii. I'm Arby Kelly. And I'm Cynthia Sinclair. In our show this time, we'll visit a conference called Lessons for Hawaii from the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season. It was at the Alamoana Hotel. It was an important collaboration of the partnership of Pacific Resilience and the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center. We can't afford to ignore the very real possibility of extreme weather and weather-related disasters affecting our state. We're alone in a huge ocean 2,500 miles from the mainland, a long way from help. We're regularly exposed to hurricane risks, which we've been lucky to have avoided since the destruction of Hiva and Aniki years ago. And now this year, we not only have the repeating phenomenon of El Niño, we have the much more threatening phenomenon of climate change and the extreme weather that goes with it and is accelerating all over the world. Are we prepared for the extreme weather disasters that come from climate change? For that matter, are we prepared for man-made disasters? Yes, Hawaii is vulnerable, more vulnerable perhaps than many other places on the mainland and in the world. And yet Hawaii is largely unprepared for what might happen. Hawaii is loaded with academic and scientific talent that can understand what could happen and how we can protect ourselves from it and recover from it. So it's incumbent on us to raise public awareness about these disasters and what we can do to prepare for and recover from them. Awareness alone will not save us, but hopefully awareness will lead to action by government, industry and all of us. The National Disaster Preparedness Training Center is a national organization associated with the University of Hawaii. Carl Kim of UH is its director. NDPTC is dedicated to raising public awareness and readiness to deal with and recover from disasters. BINGTECH has had a great number of talk shows with NDPTC over the years and it has regularly covered NDPTC's annual Primo Conference. This is the Pacific Risk Management Ohana Conference. Just recently, NDPTC collaborated with the Partnership for Pacific Resilience in a program to examine what we can learn from the climate change disasters in the Atlantic and Caribbean. The conference assembled a number of officials and experts familiar with the storms and disasters in the Atlantic and Caribbean in 2017. So we can learn from them and improve our preparedness here at home. The program led off with remarks from its organizers, Jennifer Sabat, the chair of Partners for Pacific Resilience and Carl Kim, director of NDPTC. This was followed by a keynote from Tim Manning, former deputy administrator of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Then we heard from a panel entitled Regional Highlights of Issues in Recovery, modeled by Ray Tanabe of the National Weather Service. The panelists were Dennis Huang of Hawaii Sea Grant on what happened in Texas, Kevin Sir of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency on what happened in Florida, Irvin Mason of the Virgin Islands Emergency Management Agency on what happened in the Virgin Islands, and Carmen Concepcion of the University of Puerto Rico on the dreadful events that took place in Puerto Rico. Then there was a panel entitled Leading Recovery to Resilience, moderated by Connie Lau of H.E.I. and Toby Claremont of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. The panelists were Roy Amemiah of the City and County of Honolulu, Matt Cox of Mattson, Ron Cox of Hawaiian Electric, Chris Crabtree of the Hawaii Health Care Emergency Management Coalition, Jerry Doloch of Outrigger Resorts and the Hawaii Visitor Industry Security Association, Ernest Lau of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, and John Wood of Paycom. Two great panels, including all the organizations you'd like to hear from in a discussion of what we can learn from the storms in the Atlantic to deal with the coming disasters in Hawaii. The luncheon speaker that day was Paxie Pastor, co-founder and co-chair of KeyStrong.org. He was introduced by Korolee Matayoshi of the American Red Cross in Hawaii. In the afternoon, there were reports from various breakout sessions, a summary of the proceedings by Jeff Payne of NOAA, final insights by Ron Kochi of the State Senate, and closing remarks by Susan Tai, regional director of Partners for Pacific Resilience. What a day, packed with notables, loaded with chilling stories, thoughtful analysis, and valuable lessons on what Hawaii should be doing. Think Tech was there, and we walked the floor as we always do. Here are some of the footage we got and the comments we heard at the conference. A couple of weeks ago, I was at the American Meteorological Society annual meeting, and in one of the presidential forums, there was a TV meteorologist from Puerto Rico that gave a speech about her experience when Maria was passing over the island. It was telling, it was touching. She ended the speech by saying, right as the hurricane was bearing down on the island, she looked at the entire audience, and her voice was quivering, and she said, I wasn't afraid of the wind, I wasn't afraid of the rain. I was afraid for Puerto Rico. And she broke into tears when she said that. And to some extent, that's what I want everybody to be here in this room. I want everyone here to be afraid of, afraid for Hawaii. If we were hit by a Category 4 or a Category 5 system, and not afraid in a bad way where we all panic, but afraid in a good way where we collectively as a group, all of the people here help Hawaii become better prepared, more resilient in the event that something happens here. We help community meetings in schools. We're sitting in a school room. We're sitting in a music room. There are trombones and trumpets and all these things all around us. But we as emergency managers need to be creative and all of you folks need to do the same. You need to be creative, think outside the box. Hold meetings at places that you would never have meetings. It's easy to say we're gonna meet in the grand ballroom and have everybody come by and ask questions. That's not the case. They're not gonna come here. You have to go in the communities. Left-hand side, we're in a fire station. I come from the fire service, so that was like home for me. But all these other folks had to go to the fire station, because that was a central point in the community that survived the direct hit. On the right-hand side, you see us at Home Depot. How many of you guys go to Home Depot? I go to Home Depot many times. I can't fix anything to save my life, so I gotta go once, twice. About the third or fourth time, the guy goes, hey, you know, maybe you might want to hire somebody at this point, right? But all that is all part of the repair side. And we were there in the communities, in Home Depot answering questions. People brought all kinds of stuff in, all kinds of questions. In fact, if you look closely, the lady brought her dog. So this picture is on FEMA's website. It's a great way for you folks to interact with your community and make sure that they're okay. Preparedness for extreme events is a critical aspect of the process and requires more attention from government officials. Many lessons from the Hurricane Maria experience reveal preparation shortcomings. Even though preparing for a phenomenon of this magnitude is not an easy task. After four months, there's still like half of the population without electricity. And you don't have an idea of what it is until you live through that. I remember my home experience having to organize my life according to the time where the generator was on for me to take a shower, to get to the elevators and things like that. It's very difficult to do it. I think we've already been hearing some pretty common themes. And maybe one of the goals of this organization would be the convener. And to pick maybe the top three or four, we heard about preparedness, we heard about communication, and maybe start to put some working groups together to make sure that the momentum isn't lost. And that we're not, as Puerto Rico said, six months out worrying about another hurricane season and not moving the dime forward. Puerto Rico shows us anything. It demonstrates how critical it is to have a interconnected multi-sector response to a major storm like that. And so our role here today is to talk and hear what the other parts of the sectors here, the other utilities, the government, both the city and the county and the state, how they're planning and how we can work together even better than we are today to prepare. Because if there's one theme that's flowing through the initial discussions, its preparation is key. And you can't wait until the storm is marching across the Pacific and then start preparing. The consistent message about preparedness and obviously the engagement of the public and being transparent with them, a lot of people from other places when we're tourism-based economies or real estate-based economies. I think a lot of what happens is quite understandably people try to talk about it not being so bad. But really I think the public isn't stupid. And if you're engaging the public and you can have an emotional connection, the beauty of, especially in this country, so many people care. And if there's a call to action and there's a clear pathway of how they can help a family, there's wonderful families all over the country. And we're seeing in the keys, which I'll talk about a little bit, people literally all over the country wanting to help. Every disaster brings our community together and we're lucky that we have a community that responds in that fashion when we face those kinds of crises. But if we don't prepare for those crises, we're not going to be able to respond adequately. And so I think that thinking ahead is important. This kind of conference helps make sure that we are thinking ahead. I think the big lesson here is that I don't think we think that the disaster is going to be as worse as it really will be. And so like the most catastrophic loss that you can prepare for is probably the best philosophy. And one thing that's standing out is that it's not a governmental response issue, it's more a community issue. So we'll have to respond and prepare for that kind of response because the worst case scenario is very difficult to plan for. We all saw what happened in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, tremendous devastation and those hurricanes because of the isolated nature of the islands, makes it so much more difficult in recovery and response. And so all the folks that are gathered here today under the partnership for Pacific resilience are thinking about Hawaii. What does Hawaii need to learn from what happened in the 2017 hurricane season to make us prepared? How do we actually create the impetus for change that our entire community will actually realize that you do have to get prepared, not just the people in this room? So first of all, pre-existing personal relationships really are the key. You just can't wait for the disaster. You need to know who your right counterparts are in each of our organizations to call and you got to keep it current as Irving pointed out. I mean I've seen lots of plans where unfortunately when you look at that phone call tree, a lot of the people have moved on to other jobs. I mean I have to say, and Ron knows this, we're reorganizing all the time within Hawaiian Electric and Scott Sue who was originally my point of contact backing me up on the NIAC, he was running system ops when we started and now he's gone on to public affairs. So you just got to keep those lists current and you want to build personal relationships with them because that's what really counts when a disaster hits. Can you call on that person? Because sometimes frankly, you know, we haven't talked that much about bureaucracy but the legal system is set up in a certain way and the processes are set up in a certain way but sometimes if you're going to address a disaster, you got to just get it done. We've been spending a lot of time talking about and thinking about question is action about Hurricane Harvey when that came down, we started seeing things flood. We said, oh my goodness, we talked to people like Ray Tanabe and we said, hey, could this happen in Hawaii? And they, you know, you get the look like, yeah, it could. And then we had the Irma experience and Irma was amazing because this is a place where we want to be. Dennis was talking earlier about his guide and his knowledge about hardening homes and business structures. We don't do that here. We are generations behind in our building codes, generations behind. I have a wonderful slide if any of you would like to have it. A picture I took down at Key West had two homes. One home was built within the last five years. And this is the post-Hurricane Andrew period when Florida strengthened their building code. And that structure has a shingle missing from the roof. And I'm sure they were hopping mad why the shingle was missing. The house next to it was a pile of toothpicks, literally. And I found out later that was built in 1960s. And so here are two buildings sustained largely the same wind load. And one was completely destroyed. I mean almost unrecognizable. I could see the bathtub from the street. And the other one was somebody who was living in it. They didn't have any power, but they were living in it because the structure withstood the effects. So building codes are a big deal. Based on Puerto Rico experience in Virgin Islands, you know, how are we positioned from the electric company perspective? And I would say that while we're by no means ready for that kind of storm, I think I'm not sure we would ever be really ready. There's more we can do. We are positioned in some ways better than Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands. And since that, you know, we have had a plan and been investing in our grid to harden it for some time now. Close to one and a half billion dollars have gone into strengthening those key structures, especially those ones that go over the mountains and deliver power to the other side of the island over time. So while we haven't been able to, I would say, replace all those structures that were built in the 70s, 60s, even 50s, we've gone a long way to try and improve our grid resilience to withstand stronger storms. This morning's session was quite sobering because there are so many parallels to what could happen here. We're an island state. We're actually further from the mainland than any other landmass on Earth. And as you heard, we only have a limited amount of food supply. Another thing that wasn't mentioned is that a lot of our infrastructure is on the coastline. Our largest sort of treatment plan is at San Island. Our airport is near the ocean. Connie and Ron have a couple of large power plants right on the ocean. And much of our transportation, Kamehameha Highway, goes right against the coast. So we have a lot of challenges. Dr. Kim mentioned that Honolulu was chosen as one of the hundred resilient cities by the Rockefeller Foundation. And this is something quite exciting for us, but it doesn't mean that we're resilient. The reason we got picked was because we're one of the 100 most vulnerable cities in the world. 2017, my phone rings, my buddies and the keys were really hurting. So Irma was a special case. So when we looked at Irma, I'm going to show you a video. This was shot from a drone. And remember that 17-foot storm surge on the Atlantic side, 9-foot on the Gulf side. This is what the intercostal looked like. And imagine what that's like in terms of just the spiritual impact that has, the emotional impact of a community. And you guys have seen a lot of things. But this one was heavy. This was heavy. And so when we look at what that does to a community, and I have to give FEMA credit, a lot of people yell at these poor guys, they have been so helpful and doing the best they can. When Harvey hits Houston, and then obviously we got whacked with Irma, and then it moves to Maria and this poor, lovely lady here helping with that community, the government can only do so much, folks. It's really about what we're all used about as Americans. We get stuff done. We step up and we get some challenges now, but we'll get it done. Certainly the conversation cannot end in a conference. It must lead to meaningful action. Otherwise, Hawaii and everyone in Hawaii will be at great risk going forward. Just as our many talk shows with the NDPTC have been instructive in learning about the risks of climate change disasters, so was this program. There is, of course, a lot to learn and do for us as a community to be prepared and save ourselves when the time comes. In the meantime, NDPTC is conducting a survey on experiences related to the recent missile alert false alarm in Hawaii. NDPTC is interested in learning about the use of social media and public trust and information sources regarding emergency alerts. They will present their findings here on Think Tech. Here's a link to the survey. It's on our daily advisory and we hope you will participate. We also hope that the follow-up to this conference in the 2018 Legislature and otherwise will be faithful to the advice of these speakers and panelists. In any event, on August 6, NDPTC will be presenting a program called Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction at its annual Primo Conference. Want to know more about NDPTC? Check it out at NDPTC.Hawaii.edu. Want to know more about the partnership for Pacific Resilience? Google it and you'll see what we mean. Or just watch our shows on ThinkTechHawaii.com and YouTube. Soon enough, you'll see more of our many shows on climate change, disasters and preparedness. And now let's check out our Think Tech schedule of events going forward. Think Tech broadcasts its talk shows live on the internet from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Then we broadcast our earlier shows all night long and on the weekends. And some people listen to them all night long and on the weekend. If you missed a show or if you want to replay or share any of our shows, throw our archive on demand on ThinkTechHawaii.com and YouTube. For our audio stream, go to ThinkTechHawaii.com slash audio. And we post all our shows as podcasts on iTunes. Visit ThinkTechHawaii.com for our weekly calendar and live streams and YouTube links. Or better yet, sign up on our email list and get our daily email advisories. ThinkTech has a high-tech green screen studio at Pioneer Plaza. If you want to see it or be part of our live audience or if you want to participate in our shows, contact shows at ThinkTechHawaii.com. If you want to pose a question or make a comment during the show, call 808-374-2014 and help us raise public awareness on ThinkTech. ThinkTech lives on the internet and on mobile devices. We're now streaming live on our Facebook page and we're building an app for Apple and Android devices that will let you view our videos live and through the night and let you search and view our thousands of videos on demand. Go ahead, give us a thumbs up on YouTube or send us a tweet at ThinkTechHI. We'd like to know how you feel about the issues and events that affect our lives in these islands and in this country. We want to stay in touch with you and we'd like you to stay in touch with us. Let's think together. And now, here's this week's ThinkTech commentary. Is anyone surprised that Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell wants the city to use $44 million of bond debt to pay for administrative costs related to the construction of the rail system? You know, the proposal is a bad sign indicating once again that the city mega project is in poor financial health and clearly that the wildly over budget and behind schedule transit development needs a full deep audit for fraud, waste and abuse. Caldwell's proposal to use bond money to pay for administrative costs of the Honolulu area rapid transit was contained in his fiscal 2019 executive and capital programs budget, which he submitted to the Honolulu City Council on March 2nd. The requested funds would have to be paid back with interest and certainly add to the ever mounting costs of the project. One local budget analyst said the debt interest alone could eventually be almost as much as the principal amount borrowed. And that's assuming a 5% interest rate and dangerously set a precedent for using this kind of funding mechanism in future years. In addition, the proposed spending also goes against the Honolulu City Council's law banning itself from using city funds for the rail. Ordinance 07-001 section three states that rail expenses quote shall be paid entirely from general excise and use tax surcharge revenues. Interest earned on the revenues and any federal state or private revenues. Notice there's no word bond in there and also notice that the law does not say city revenues can be used. That's why some members of the council have been seeking for some time to change the law. Meanwhile, according to the most recent evaluation of Honolulu's finances by Moody's investor services, Honolulu's quote challenges related to construction of light rail end quote could lead to a downgrade of its AA1 credit rating if the city shows quote inability to manage escalating fixed costs end of quote. Yet the mayor and his cohorts on the council now want to borrow money not only for the capital construction costs of the rail but also for its administrative costs. After receiving criticism that the rail was well over budget last summer during the latest round to seek state tax aid, Caldwell and other boosters of the project indicated that the rail skyrocketing costs were now under control and that building and operating the rail would not place the city in an endless cycle of debt. Skeptics took those assurances with a grain of salt but this update underlines the questions that still dog the project. The only way to effectively address those concerns and restore public trust is through a full audit of the rail. Although the city passed a follow-up audit last year, that audit will not specifically look for fraud, waste and abuse. More transparency is needed. Whether folks are pro-rail or anti-rail, the funding realities demonstrate that city officials need to be more forthright with the public. Not only about its real costs but also about its long-term effect on Honolulu's finances. In the end, it's a question of accountability, transparency and the public trust. The first step is to provide a full investigation of the project. Ehana Kako, let's work together for greater transparency and accountability in government. We'll be right back to wrap up this week's edition of Think Tech but first, we wanna thank our underwriters. The Atherton Family Foundation, Castle and Cook, Hawaii. The Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education, Collateral Analytics, The Cook Foundation, The Hawaii Council of Associations of Apartment Owners, Hawaii Energy, The Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, The Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, Hawaiian Electric Companies, The High Tech Development Corporation, Galen Ho of BAE Systems, Integrated Security Technologies, Kameha Meha Schools, Dwayne Kurisu, Kallamon Lee and the Friends of Think Tech, MW Group Limited, The Schuyler Family Foundation, The Sydney Stern Memorial Trust, The Volo Foundation, Yuriko J. Sugimura. Okay, Cynthia, that wraps up this week's edition of Think Tech. Remember, you can watch Think Tech on Spectrum OC16 several times every week. Can't get enough of it, just like Cynthia does. For additional times, check out oc16.tv. For lots more Think Tech videos and for underwriting and sponsorship opportunities on Think Tech, visit thinktechhawaii.com. Be a guest or a host, a producer or an intern and help us reach and have an impact on Hawaii. Thanks for being part of our Think Tech family and for supporting our open discussion of tech, energy, diversification and global awareness in Hawaii. And of course, the ongoing search for innovation wherever we can find it. You can watch the show throughout the week and tune in next Sunday evening for our next important weekly episode. I'm Marby Kelly. And I'm Cynthia Sinclair. Aloha everyone.