Disaster readiness should be a political issue

Some of us watched with trepidation as our local forecasters described three tropical depressions that turned into hurricanes to the east of our islands last month.

These potentially devastating storms broke up and moved away from our shores, as often happens when the cooler waters of the Pacific Ocean absorb the storms’ devastating impact. But we know better from past experience that it’s only a matter of time before we get hit.

With this year’s hurricane season in full swing, there’s no reason to wait until the day before to prepare our families, homes and communities for when a hurricane has become imminent.

The Hawaiian Islands are statistically overdue for a hurricane. This has been confirmed by major insurance companies, which may be why they are not selling hurricane insurance to homeowners.

When we consider our community preparedness and recovery, we can learn from what the United Nations disaster-response agencies have identified as the eight essential societal services. Our dispersed island geography and distance from the mainland will significantly hamper recovery. Obviously, it will take the entire community to mitigate the effects of a large-scale disaster as we bring back these essential services. All logistics becomes exponentially harder when port infrastructures are damaged.

What are the "societal essential services" that we all rely on? How can their preparedness affect our family plans? Critically reviewing these essential sectors can be helpful when building family disaster plans and survival kits.

The fundamental question to ask is: Which ones of these sectors do you think is prepared to recover after being damaged?

» Power/electricity/fuel;

» Water/sanitation;

» Food/agriculture;

» Transportation (air, ports and roads);

» Communications infrastructure;

» Health care/public health;

» Rule of law (includes police, courts, and prison); and

» Banking/finance.

The degree to which these "essential sectors" are operated by private and public entities, and are dependent upon each other, complicates the problem.

Recently, I asked my bank branch manager if the bank had a plan to open the bank to allow customers access to their safety deposit boxes for cash reserves, if there was no electricity to do regular computer-driven financial services.

The answer was: "No, but they would work things out on a case-by-case basis."

This was not the answer I was hoping for.

To what degree are Hawaii’s elected officials capable of running disasters? The answer would provide each of us with important information needed in preparation for a large-scale emergency.

What the government emergency managers around the world are saying is: You’d better prepare your families/communities because services will take some time to return to normal.

During this election season, coinciding with hurricane season, not enough is said about disaster response. Protecting our residents and visitors, particu- larly our most vulnerable populations, falls to all of us, and especially our leaders. Let’s start asking ourselves who’s ready in Hawaii to get our essential services back on line, committed to obligating funds needed for uninsured repairs, and educating everyone living in or visiting Hawaii about disaster preparedness.

Politicians talking about disaster preparedness clearly does not translate into votes or we would be hearing lots about the subject this year. It’s up to us to ask them what they know and how they would protect our lives and property.

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Andrew Bates teaches international and domestic emergency management at Hawaii Pacific University.