Did you hear that? No. No one did. That silence is also what they heard in Maui when the sirens didn’t go off. The sirens on Hawaii have been ineffective for years and the government knows this, but it hasn’t done enough (“Deficiencies abound with Hawaii’s disaster warning sirens,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 5).

The government has tried to improve the siren system but it still doesn’t work. As a resident of Oahu, it concerns me that Hawaii isn’t prepared to deal with major emergencies. The sirens are supposed to warn us about all emergencies but they leave us guessing about what to do.

If the Maui fires are to teach us something, it is that the government needs to evaluate and improve our system now. We need to take action today as we tragically lost too many lives.

Mia Doma

Kahala

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