Michelle Mitsui and fiance Wood Jackson were encouraged to lose their cool Saturday during a drill to shelter a large number of people amid a Category 4 hurricane in Nanakuli.

In one scenario, Mitsui played a belligerent alcoholic and Jackson portrayed a man who became overwhelmed by the crowd, shouting, "Too many people!"

The couple’s bad-tempered characters turned out to be a boon for other volunteers, who were running the shelter or providing security.

"That makes us better," said volunteer security officer Bill Kumia. He said the actors gave security workers the chance to practice dealing with unruly shelter visitors.

"When they check in, everybody’s nervous, everybody doesn’t know what to expect. Some people are freaking out," Kumia said. "If everything is cool here (at registration), then it just flows."

Dozens of volunteers such as Mitsui and Jackson showed up for an emergency response exercise at Nanakuli High & Intermediate School to help government agencies and community groups prepare for hurricane season, which began Friday and runs through Nov. 30.

Maj. Gen. Darryll Wong, director of Hawaii Civil Defense, said the exercise provided an opportunity for government agencies to run through the steps of responding to an emergency, such as an incident that prompts a mass evacuation. He said that during the exercise, the shelter managers identified the needs of the residents and requested supplies from the city and state, which relayed those requests to the Air National Guard. The Air National Guard eventually delivered those supplies to the shelter.

Participants also praised Project 52, a campaign to help communities prepare themselves for emergencies, for making the event successful.

Wong said Project 52 has been successful in Nanakuli and that the state is trying to expand the concept to different neighborhoods.

"We’re trying to go back to where the communities know each other better than anybody else, and they can take care of themselves," he said.

Those involved with Project 52 said the concept works by tapping community members to run shelters or help in emergency situations rather than bringing in volunteers from outside the community.

They described Project 52 as a three-tiered approach that begins with preparing individual families for a disaster, then organizing community groups, and finally organizing the community.

Allen Cardines Jr., a leader of Project 52 in Nanakuli, said the concept was named after a story about rebuilding Jerusalem in 52 days. He said the concept began about 21⁄2 years ago and is based on people taking responsibility, working together, and "being part of the solution, not being part of the problem."

He said Project 52 was important for the Waianae Coast because the area is vulnerable to being cut off from the rest of the island. But the model is important for all neighborhoods because they can be affected by hurricanes, extended blackouts or other disasters.

"Every community should have a plan to be able to work together with different organizations," he said. "If you’re not planning, you’re planning to fail."

Colby Stanton, director of the Pacific area office for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, praised the community’s efforts to take care of each other, rather than waiting for someone to come and help them.

Stanton, who participated in the event, said communities that prepare themselves lessen "the burden on everybody else" and allow the government to focus on the people most hard-hit by a disaster.

"The better prepared communities are for disaster, the better off we all are as a nation," she said.

She urged residents to prepare for emergencies by stocking up with several days’ worth of food and water.

"What we have here, is what we’re going to have here for the first few days after a disaster hits," she said. "We really do need to be ready to take care of ourselves. That can be on the individual level as well as the county, state and federal level."