 I'm Wendy Lo and I am your new friend as we journey to take your health back. We are coming to you today live from downtown Honolulu from the studios of Think Tech Hawaii. Today our topic of discussion will be on community resilience. What I would like you to take away from today's discussion is the idea that resilience is in the face of disaster, oh, the resilience in the face of disaster is not a question of what is government going to do to help. The resolve in resilience is how do we engage the whole community to build collaboratively. Today we are very honored to welcome a young gentleman of the West Coast. His name is Pono Higa. He is the coordinator for Waianae Coast disaster readiness team, the acronym WCDRT, a collaborative of West or Leeward Oahu stakeholders preparing and organizing their community to be resilient when faced with disasters, whatever the disaster may be. And today we're going to be talking about the different disasters, what we need to do in preparation of the disaster and we're so blessed that we have Pono Higa here from the West Coast of Waianae, Miley, Makaha, my hometown, all right. So that's why I'm so excited and I'm so happy, Pono, to welcome you to the show because you're a wealth of knowledge and I just want you to just tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you go to school and tell us about yourself? Thank you, Wendy, for having me. Yeah, I was actually born on Kauai but I lived on the Waianae Coast my entire life. Got my education off the coast at various schools in town but I think I'll always call the Waianae Coast my home. Hallelujah. Just like me. You know, I'm so blessed that I keep, I'm so proud to be from Miley Elementary and my claim to fame is that I am the first class, the first kindergarten class of Miley Elementary and very proud of it and the neat part about it is sometimes I can turn it on and sometimes I can turn it off and sometimes I can't but I survive, right. And so when I met Pono, I was very actively working with WAMCAT which is a run by Lieutenant Colonel Rock Arakaki, you know, I call him Don Rock Arakaki and he is this, I want to call him a young man too but he's so full of energy that he just loves the West Coast and he loves just engaging the community and everything he does just so that everybody works harmoniously together. And so I've been very privileged to be invited to his meetings and just seeing all the great activities that are being done and conducted on the West side and there's a lot going on. Although it seems like they're just living life, enjoying the beaches and in the Aina, they're doing a lot behind the scenes and people like Pono is exactly what I want to share with all of you. He's like the best kept secret, the treasure of the Waianae Coast. So recent events, Pono, have shown us just how vulnerable our Hawaiian state, our island state is. But we truly felt the full impacts of those disasters when we get them on the news, we start preparing, and we get blessed. You know, Kua's guiding and watching over our islands and we're really blessed. But you know what? One day something may happen, like we have experienced before. So can you tell us a little bit more about the different disasters, the different sorts of disasters, because we just think hurricane, tsunami, tidal wave, but there are a lot of different labels or kinds of disasters. So go right into that and explain to us. Well, what we do is, I guess, train and organize folks in the community, just, you know, the difference between emergencies and disasters. Emergencies can happen on a day-to-day basis, a traffic collision, a child led a playground, but disasters are things that will most so impact the broader community. As the picture shows, we're susceptible to earthquake, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes. And there are actually six attributes to hurricanes that three of them we talk about all the time. Storm surge, heavy rain and heavy wind, but we don't talk about the possibility of water spouts or tornadoes or hail. And in fact, the most frequent disaster that we see on a yearly basis is actually flooding. And it doesn't take a hurricane or a tsunami for us to get some heavy rain. Right. And, you know, lots of times it may be sunny on one side and then we see on our screens flash flood warnings are in effect. And people are thinking, what? It's sunny. What's going on? So how do people respond to that when they see it on their phones and it's flashing, you know, right there? Be aware of flash flood warnings are off. So what do you tell people about that just to see that warning on their phone? Well, I think, you know, a year ago, two years ago, people were kind of complacent. We didn't really have too many frequent events. After last year, 2018, quite a few things happening, you know, we're lucky with Hurricane Lane and Olivia that we kind of missed that one for our island. But I think people are slowly responding and people are actually heeding the warnings that are coming out. So I think the understanding in the community is a little bit better than it used to be. So what is the government, our government, what are they going to do to help us prepare? And how do we prepare for such disasters, Pono? Well, government does its part. You know, I'm not an agent of the government, but I trust that they're working on plans. In fact, I've been a part of some of these plans. And another good thing for our organization is they've really taken it to engage the community and community is actually where disasters start. The organizations like ARVS, they've reached out, they've assisted us in organizing and we're better because of it. And government will also send out warnings and public information so that people can effectively respond. Pono, you know when you refer to our organizations and what you're doing, what is it, what is that you're speaking to, making reference to your group? Well, I guess community resilience as a whole, we actually call ourselves the sister in the Cross Island Community Resilience Network and a number of other volunteer organizations, things that started in the community, they're thriving in the community. So like the Wine and Coast Disaster Readiness Team, we're an organization of volunteers in our own community that have just said, hey, something's got to be done and we can't depend on others to do it. We live in our community, the one that's going to be impacted and, you know, let's get things going. And you know, Pono, being that you are on that west side, a few pointers were brought out to my attention and I really took my heart because one main thing you all know out there in the desolate west side, when or if there's a disaster hits the island. You guys are kind of shut off. You're isolated out there. And so the brilliance of what you all are doing is you're forming teams that will take it upon your own selves and not wait for government entities to offer and extend out there because they have to take care of the metropolitan and then it circles out, I believe. And so that really shocked me when I heard that and I thought, but you all on the west side are really stepping, you know, to the plate by making things happen and not just waiting for government to say, hey, you guys are next, all right. And so I'm so proud of what you all are doing there. So let me just take a scenario. I'm driving around in this part of a disaster. There's a telephone pole that has dropped right in front of me or on the side and the traffic is backed up and we can't get anywhere. I got a chainsaw on my back in my trunk. Should I whip out that chainsaw? Should I just cut that pole in half and make way for everybody else? Tell us what should we do in a situation like that, what they're seeing on this slide here? The image on the slide is actually a Farrington Highway, the primary road through the Wynite Coast. And this is actually a picture from several years ago when we had a number of poles come down in the highway. First off, you shouldn't take out your chainsaw, you should leave it as is. And that's one of those instances where you should let government or the appropriate agency respond. The best thing to do is alert others that may be around that there's a hazard and try to prevent them from going into harm. Right. And you brought out a really good point that time when you were discussing the telephone pole, I mean the limited amount of telephone poles that we may have if we cut that pole in half because we think we're doing good, what are we actually doing? Well, the Hawaiian Electric Company has advised and a number of agencies, even the government, we're limited on resources here. As far as our commodities here on Island, if a disaster were to cut off approximately over 90% of our commodities come from other places they need to be shipped in. If those resources are cut off, we have two to three days supply on Island. And same thing goes for the example of the telephone pole. We have limited resources on the Island and as everyone knows, we're isolated here in the Pacific and it would take some time to get that resource here. So that's why, you know, we've heard examples of during Hurricane Iniki on Kauai, people would just take their chainsaw and go cut the poles and cut the wires, but we need that to rebuild. You heard that guys. I mean, I was, again, that's the natural response. They get moved away, get rid of it, but it can't be replaced. So we best just leave it to the professionals to take care of it, right? And they'll come along when they do. So our job would just maybe traffic control and just get everybody to just calm down, right? So again, being born and raised on the west side, I'm very familiar with Kauai Power Plant and I know it as the best spot for fishing and where the water comes in and out, comes in cold, goes out hot, and all the great fish hang out right there. I mean, I spend many days fishing there, but in times of disaster, that power plant becomes a massive disaster for the west side. So can you advise us, if we lived on the west side, what would we do in case of disaster and that thing is effective? Well, it's not just the west side. It's actually all of our utilities, all of our infrastructure. We find it's, you know, along the coast and during tsunami, during hurricane, those are susceptible to damage. So for us on the coast, you know, luckily we have Kauai Power Plant and many that say the Waianae side is going to be the last one to get any assistance, to that I say Kauai is a vital asset on our island and that's going to be one of the first places that the appropriate agencies are going to want to get up and running again and luckily that's on the Waianae coast. So I think roads being cleared, that puts us on the priority list. I think so because we do supply a great amount of the island with power. So you mentioned earlier, we have a disaster. We all know that we should, you know, gather food and have at least two weeks worth of food in our preparedness packets, bins, right? So when this disaster comes along, what was again brought to my attention and that's why being prepared is so amazing because I'm now, all the, I'm stunned at all the facts and the numbers. And this is another thing I never thought about. So again, see the ship start coming to the island, but then the cranes and all the things that we're going to take the food off of the containers, the containers off of the ships, that's damaged. So what happens in that time when the, the, the massive shipyard, those cranes go down, but the ships are coming. What, what happens then? Oh no. Yeah, again, you know, the balance of our island state is very unique and interesting, even different from Puerto Rico, as we saw there in Hurricane Maria. Our infrastructure, our utilities are susceptible to those types of disasters. And the best thing we can ask people to do is prepare themselves and their families. You know, the questions come up. Do we have, you know, these, these beautiful warehouses that store all this food and medication and stuff for our island? And unfortunately we don't have that to sustain the community. But one easy storage place that everybody does have is their own home. You know, if you begin preparing now and, and you store some, some things, and like you said, recommended by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, agency of the state, to prepare for at a minimum 14 days. Right. You know, and so I, I'm not near prepared as you are mentally, physically, and just stock wise, but I'm getting there. And the fact that I take some time to want to know more, and I, my job today is to encourage as many as we can and reach out and just massage your hearts and your brains that if you love your family as much as you say you do, you take the time, the weekends or whatever time, research, what do I need to do in case of. Okay. And so like for myself, when there is the hurricane, you know, approaches and you know, you're, you're going to tell us at what point we need to start really stuck piling water and all that. I personally have water bins that are food safe and that I can store water. And I know the procedure to sterilize the water. So whether it's water for a shower or hygiene, I can also use it for drink and for cooking. I also have many, many supplies, dry goods. I have beans. I have rice, noodles. I have rice. I have noodles. I have lots of stuff. Then I have my food growing on my balcony. Right. So I'm kind of almost there as far as preparedness goals as far as the two week supply and then some. And that's the whole goal, guys, is I need you all to think that way to be in the preparedness mode that it could happen at any time. I just really, truly feel that Keoku has blessed us for many, many, many years. And this year, for some reason in my heart, I just want to say to everyone, just be prepared. And that's why I was so excited when Pono said, yes, I want to come to your talk show today and just make this available so more and more people can see the resources that Pono will share with us when we come right back from our break. So right now we're going to just take a 60 second break and we'll be right back. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Winston Welch, host of Out and About. It's a show that we have every other Monday on Think Back Live Here. We explore a variety of topics that are really interesting. We explore organizations, events, and the people who fuel them in our city, state, country, and world. We've got some amazing guests on here, like all the shows at Think Tech. So if you want to catch up on stuff, tune into my show every other Monday and other shows here on Think Tech Live. It's a great place to learn about stuff, to be informed. And if you have some ideas, come on my show. Let's talk about it. See you later and aloha. Hello, everybody, my name is Walter Kawaii. I'm your host for our monthly live streaming video entitled Ukulele Songs of Hawaii. Where I bring on guests, we enjoy talking story about the music industry here in Hawaii, sometimes going back 50 decades if possible, and always having some good fun, talking with entertainers. We're here located at Think Tech Hawaii, downtown Honolulu at the Pioneer Plaza building, and in their studios. And so join me next month for Ukulele Songs of Hawaii. Aloha. Here we are at Think Tech Studios Hawaii in downtown Honolulu. And our guest today is Pono Higa. Pono comes to us from the west side, and this young man is just gone beyond the call. He invited me to do a preparedness fair on the west side in the Waianae Mall. And when he sent out the email, it was like a 60 or a 70 year old guy sent me all this information because he was so well organized, so well seasoned. I couldn't believe this young man under 30 was just so organized and prepared. And that's why I want him, I invited him to come to the show so he can get you as organized and as prepared as he is. So I attended, Pono, I invited me and I attended his program or the program called CERT, Community Emergency Response Team. And I spent two Saturdays thus far from eight to four, eight to four, and we have one more on the job site training coming up this Saturday. But you know, as I drove out to Kapolei, I'm thinking, what are you all doing? Are you sitting on, you know, at home watching TV? What are you all doing? Resting, you know, I was driving out there because I was so excited that I was gonna get trained and get more information from Pono and your teammates. And you know, one of the neatest things that I learned, and it's very simple, and I just wanna jump the gun and just share it with everybody, the one thing that I learned that really stuck in my mind is as simple as this, put a pair of shoes under your bed, okay? Right by your bed when you get out of your bed because if we have a disaster, if, when you get up, you're gonna be in panic mode, put on your shoes, then start walking, okay? Because just simple glass or any debris on the ground could cause pain and hurt. When that does happen to you, that means you're gonna go down and you need aid when you're an actual out of you, you're gonna get up to render aid and help others, right? So Pono, where do we start when you tell us to build a kit in preparedness or hurricane? Well, since you brought up SIRT, are you prepared right now? If you have something to write with, something to write on, I'm about to give you a link. So honolulu.gov, board slash DEM, DEM stands for the Department of Emergency Management. They're actually the program manager of the program SIRT, Community Emergency Response Team. It's a 22 hour training for anybody free. Doesn't matter if you have access or functional needs, whatever your age or your background, we'll take anybody, we'll train anybody. So go to the website, you can sign up for any course. We have them at least twice a month, either the traditional course hosted by the city in town or you can take a community course like the one we're holding out on the Leeward side right now. So the very first thing that we wanna ask everybody to do, you don't have to go out and be a volunteer, you don't have to go out and get all this training, but the one thing that people can do is build a kit. And that's just taking into consideration all the things you do on a daily basis and rounding up those items and putting them away and having them set aside. So that should there be a disaster, you have everything ready to go all in one place. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the key things for the kit is Ziploc bags. I collected the big ones because when the hurricane hits, everything's wet, it's rain. You're running away, you're running in water, you're running in floods. So you've got to protect your documents. So I already have all my documents packed up in the bag. And so it's accessible right there where my kit is. So where should one leave their kit once they get it all packed up nice and neat? Well, there's multiple different types of kits too. You also wanna consider, do you have kids and do they go to school? What is the plan for the local school? Do you maybe wanna pack a small Ziploc bag for them in their bag every day? Do you need to leave a kit at work? Is work far away from home? Do you maybe need to leave a kit in your car? But the most important thing is for me, my everyday carry bag, I have things, essentials that'll get me back to my car. And then whatever I have in my car will hopefully get me home to my bigger kid. Wow, I mean, and these guys are serious. So in his car, he has everything there. They have water that it's already packed out. And by month, I think is it monthly you change out the water or weekly? That's what I try to stick to, yeah. Yeah, so I mean, who does that, right? So I want you all to do that. Be prepared, you have it ready. And if it's just, I mean, not just, but if it's an accident where, like with all that shark attacks, I wanna say, I learn how to use a tourniquet. I understand how and I have one in my trunk now in case somebody needs it, I can grab it and go render aid. So it doesn't have to be a natural disaster of any sort of magnitude, heights. It can just be as simple as a child falling down and they're bleeding and they need help. So we're gonna, we're being prepared to take care of that. Another thing is fire extinguishers, you know? So yeah, I have fire extinguisher in my home, but you know what, it hadn't been used for a while. I didn't realize that you gotta shake it up because the powder settles to the ground or the bottom and it's not of that much use, right? And then I have a big water hose in front of my apartment. So I call my manager, I said, hey, when was the last time that hose has it been certified? And he said, what, is something wrong? So I said, no, I just wanna be prepared and I want you to be prepared because you are responsible for us. So I'm getting on top of him, but because of Pono and what I learned at his third classes really fired me up to ask the right questions to the right people. So we can't say, oh, how come you never checked? So we, right, where were you checked at? Because of you, what you trained me and you know, like all the fire extinguishers, Pono, where should we put the fire extinguisher in our homes? So the turnover right now is great because the student now becomes a teacher. One thing I would caution though and you've already brought it up is when you put together your kit, you wanna be cautious of, I wanna know how to use the things in my kit. I don't wanna just put things together and come disaster when I'm under stress. This is the first time I'm gonna take it out on the packaging. You wanna test it out, you wanna get trained. That's where the give back is. So specifically for fire extinguisher, one place that most people will put their fire extinguishers in the kitchen. Problem there is where most home fires occur in the kitchen. So you wanna keep it near doors, bedroom. The best one I like to share with people is to keep their fire extinguisher next to their bed because a lot of times home fires and people that perish from home fires occurs during the night while they're sleeping. You can use that fire extinguisher as a defensive tool if you needed to. You can use it to create a path in the fire to get out. You can use it to break a window if you have to exit through a window. So it's got multiple purposes like many of the items showed in your kit. Wow. And another thing too, I have multiple flashlights. I never had one right by my bed. I have my phone, but a flashlight would be better because it just handles better. And so now I have flashlights by my desk, my bed and everywhere else because instead of having it in one drawer where I normally store it, and in case of emergencies when I think the light's gonna go out, I have it right in the centralized location. So I'll now take the flashlight, go to that spot, turn on my light source so I have that so I won't, I can assess damage within my home, right? And so all these little things, I mean until you start practicing it, it doesn't matter, you gotta take action to make things happen. Otherwise it's just a flashlight, it's just a pair of shoes by the door for me to get from A to the door, I'm gonna be in trouble. So these are little simple things that I learned at CERT and I'm so excited that I want everybody to know about this. And one tip for you and your audience, maybe I didn't share it in the CERT class, when you store batteries, store it in different separate containers. If one set of batteries leaks, you don't want all your batteries in the same place and all of those get contaminated. So keep your batteries separated. Okay, that's another good tip. See, just keep listening to us guys, you're gonna be so, like an expert, like Pono is. And so now the next thing is, we've got a bag prepared, now let's make a plan. So do you have a plan? You have a plan. So right, what happens in case of emergency? Where are you gonna go? Does your family know where you're gonna go? Who knows where you're gonna be in that time? And that's so critical. So Pono, can you tell us about the best plan to have? Yeah, that's a simple for us. Most of our residents in grade school, we had the fire department come to our school and share our home evacuation plan. And we drew a picture of, where's our meeting place outdoors and do we know the appropriate phone number to call? But just having any kind of plan. If your family is separated and traditional communication go down, do you all have a common place that you know that that other person is gonna be at that you can rally at and you can meet at? Or again, just having a safe place outside of your home should your home find itself in some kind of risk. Plan, one unique thing that we like to share with people is to have an out of area contact or here in Hawaii out of state contact. Is when our communication system becomes overwhelmed with everyone and anybody trying to contact their loved ones during a disaster, you'll find that if you can get out of state to a different network, you can maybe relay information between me, I'll call somebody in California, my mom will call that same person and we'll let them know where we are. Another thing you can do in your planning is to send text messages. Text messages use less bandwidth than traditional phone calls and your message also gets sent in a queue, hopefully it'll be sent later on. So when in doubt during disaster, if communications is inundated, send text message. So powerful, right? He just said, instead of calling, text is a little bit more efficient at that time. Another thing too, like he was saying, I'm gonna just repeat and reiterate what he just said, make sure you have an out of state friend relative. Give them a list of where are you gonna go in case of disaster? Where's Wendy Lowe gonna go in case something happens? So she'll know my contact in Vegas will know, go find your mom, she's there. Also you supply them with a number, a list of numbers, because if we don't have cell phone, I don't even know Polo's number right now, but it's on my phone, right? So if we have no cell service, all that goes obsolete and then we're lost. So make sure you have a physical list of the numbers that you need to contact immediately, as well as give that contact person, out of state contact person, that list, so they can also communicate with us, because we may be down, but they are still up and running in another state. Hey, see, I listen, I thought I was sleeping, right? So I tell you, I'm not even Paul yet, so there's so much to learn, and I wanna take it again, so it really just sinks in, and just be well informed in time of need. I just think this is so amazing. The phone situation, I didn't think about that, but now I have everything written down, nominated, keep one in your path, send one to your neighbors, I mean, to your out of state contact, and give it to your family members as well, because a lot of us don't know the numbers. Is that right? Right, and so on the next slide, well, let me see, we have a slide of the island, and it's broken up into divisions. Can you just share with us quickly what that map means? Well, before that one, so keep it simple for the community. Three things that we can ask everybody to do, you don't have to, again, you don't have to go out and seek grand resources, but that's to build a kit as the first one, make a plan, and the last thing is to be informed. So get credible and reliable information from the sources when it comes to weather, that's the National Weather Service, for example, the Honolulu Forecast Office, but hnl.info, that is our city and county of Honolulu resource. A number of city departments will share notifications. The police department will let you know when there's traffic collisions and road closures, or the water supply about water main breaks and road closures, the Department of Emergency Management about weather hazards or other emergencies, and a number of other agencies in the city. So I think best place to get information, first off, is hnl.info. Okay, so all the different resources, that would be one of the ones that you would recommend first and foremost. Very good, that's the one I downloaded, so I'm a good student. Yeah, it's a mobile app, both Android and iPhone, or you can go to the website hnl.info to receive push notifications, text messages. And so real quick, we're running out of time. That map, what does that mean? That map is all the communities across the island that are organizing that may be at different levels and different stages in organizing, but at the end of the day, whether you live in town or you work in Waianae, you wanna know what these people are doing, and they may be your first line of defense to help during a disaster, when there's that gap where responders will be overwhelmed. Well, that's why I wanted you to bring that out, because if you look where you live, know where you gotta go in case. Just be prepared, and that's what we're talking about today. So Pono, I wanna say mahalo to you. We're taking your time out of your busy preparedness schedule, and joining us to get the word out to the people of Hawaii, what we need to do. Mahalo. Thank you. And I would ask residents of Waianae Coast to always stay Waianae ready. Yay, Waianae ready, woo! All right, aloha everyone.