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It didn’t happen this time, but that doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen.
If a big hurricane comes ashore or a tsunami races at us from the Pacific, where are the hundreds of Kakaako homeless going to go? All those people living on the sidewalks with nothing to protect them from blowing rain and blasting wind — even a tropical storm or a hellbent winter deluge would be more than wood-and-tarp hovels could handle.
The land in Kakaako might be divided up between state agencies, but emergency evacuations fall to the city.
In the event of a hurricane or tsunami, the City and County of Honolulu would partner with the Red Cross to provide emergency shelter operations. The closest emergency shelter would be at McKinley High School. Mind you, this is not a shelter specifically for the homeless. It would be for everyone in the district who decided that it would not be safe for them to stay in their own homes.
The city has gone through this before.
“During the tsunami warnings of 2010, 2011 and 2012, as well as for Iselle and Ana last year, we partnered with our Department of Community Service, who contacted the homeless service providers to provide notification,” said Peter Hirai of the city Department of Emergency Management. “We also partnered with our own city Department of Transportation Services to coordinate transportation for the homeless to evacuate to city shelters.”
If an approaching tsunami is big enough, even some of the homeless shelters could be in harm’s way. The Institute of Human Services on Kaaahi Street is just inside the newly designated extreme tsunami evacuation zone. The city’s planned Hale Mauliola homeless village on Sand Island is vulnerable to extreme weather. The Next Step Shelter is Kakaako is right next to the ocean. And then there are the myriad encampments along beaches, hidden in bushes and under freeways all across the island.
Last year the city’s executive director of housing, Jun Yang, created comprehensive guidelines for the process of storm evacuations. “We will always have challenges reaching out and notifying and warning the homeless, and many still refuse to evacuate. However, we are doing our due diligence in ensuring their safety,” Hirai said.
Not to be alarmist, but this is what emergency preparedness teams will have to deal with if Guillermo’s big brother shows up one of these days. It’s a grim existence living on the street or in the bushes on a sunny, balmy day in Hawaii. Surviving a hurricane is a whole different challenge, and bottled water and donations of canned goods are useless against raging wind and charging water.
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
