Heroes Next Door: Danny Tengan helps prep neighbors for ‘the big one’

No flood, tsunami, earthquake or hurricane — not even retirement or a near-fatal heart attack — can keep Danny Tengan from readying East Honolulu residents for disaster.

In 2014 Tengan rallied his neighbors to form the all-volunteer Aina Haina Prepared, which aims to make the well-established area of roughly 1,200 households more self-reliant when facing local emergencies. Trained members of its Community Emergency Response Team are ready to jump into action, opening evacuation shelters and conducting damage assessments and other duties.

“Communities are not ready for the big one,” said Tengan, 73, who retired from the state Civil Defense Agency in December 2013. “Our famous saying is that when the disaster comes, government initially is not gonna be there. You gotta help yourself.”

The group earned Aina Haina city, state and federal recognition for its disaster preparedness. Tengan’s efforts also inspired similar grassroots programs such as Hawaii Kai Strong and Be Ready Manoa, and in Mililani and elsewhere.

During his career and as an American Red Cross volunteer, Tengan was on the ground helping at disasters near and far, from the 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake on the Big Island to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Sandy on the mainland.

After retiring, Tengan organized the first Eastside Community Preparedness Fair at Kahala Mall featuring approximately 30 government, private and nonprofit agencies. The fair has become an annual event, and Tengan — nominated for Heroes Next Door by Andrea Wagner and Adele Chong, who described him as “one of our local gems” — continues to lead readiness workshops and related activities year-round.

Earlier this year Tengan enlisted volunteers to man an information table at Costco in Hawaii Kai over 10 days to promote the idea of keeping a 14-day survival kit at hand in the event of extended power outages or isolation from immediate help due to widespread destruction.

Tengan has firsthand knowledge of disaster impacts, not only from his civil defense career, but as a flood victim. His former home on Ailuna Street was among 12 hillside residences substantially damaged in 1998 by storm runoff from ill-maintained overflow ditches in Aina Haina.

Since then other emergencies have befallen the community, most recently torrential rainfall April 13 that damaged approximately 150 homes throughout East Honolulu. Tengan recruited 175 volunteers to clear mud from 14 homes in Wailupe, Niu Valley, Kuliouou and Hawaii Kai, and when federal agencies opened disaster recovery centers to accept applications for financial relief, Tengan again mustered help to staff an information table.

Some of the volunteers and affected residents gathered earlier this month to talk about their experiences over dinner. “Everybody was misty-eyed,” Tengan said.

Donations triggered by the April flooding allowed Aina Haina Prepared to purchase caches of medical supplies, a dual-fuel generator and a 300-gallon water bladder and filtration system, according to Tengan.

But disaster readiness isn’t the only thing on his mind. Tengan also teaches tennis and pickleball classes three times a week for the Department of Parks and Recreation, and with his wife, Susan, provides child care for their 2-year-old granddaughter.

It was while he was playing pickleball at Koko Head Regional Park on Feb. 28, 2017, that Tengan collapsed from a heart attack that nearly killed him.

“I got a second lease on life. That’s why I’m volunteering,” he said. “You cannot stay home. You gotta be out getting that heart moving.”

A member of the United Church of Christ in Hawaii Kai, Tengan said his “big project for 2019” is serving as the church body’s newly appointed state coordinator for disaster preparedness to ready other congregations for “the big one.”