Could Puna get power faster?

Residents in remote areas of Hawaii island hardest hit by Tropical Storm Iselle are suffering without basic necessities such as electricity days after the damaging wind and rain dissipated.

The focus now must be on restoring power as quickly as possible — utility officials are telling Puna residents not to expect that until well into next week.

Once that is accomplished, Hawaii Electric Light Co. and its parent company, Hawaiian Electric Industries, must identify ways to improve the response to future disasters.

Downed trees blocked roads and prevented crews from quickly accessing affected areas, and equipment and supplies had to be barged in from Oahu, which also slowed down the response.

With more rural residents, the neighbor islands are especially vulnerable to these types of disruptions, so it’s important to figure out feasible ways to speed up the recovery.

From Maui, a poet for the wide world

W.S. Merwin can’t help but write, and thank goodness for that. Merwin, writing from his home and nature preserve near Haiku, Maui, is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the past 50 years, illuminating the meaning of life for the rest of us.

At 86, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate tells the Associated Press that he hopes to finish at least one more book. In the meantime, check out the poem of the week on his website, www.merwinconservancy.org.