Disability and Communication Access Board
State of Hawaii
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Emergency Preparedness E-News
for Individuals with Disabilities and Special Health Needs
September/October 2011 Issue 21
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| Greetings!
September is National Preparedness Month, so hope you have been seeing some community activities with that theme in your area! On September 24th there was a preparedness fair in Ewa Beach that I hope some of you had an opportunity to attend. October 5th will be the last fair on Oahu at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 46-117 Halaulani Street in Kaneohe from 9:00 a.m. until noon. That event is across the street from King Intermediate School in Kaneohe.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Getting Real II Conference: Promising Practices in Inclusive Emergency Management for the Whole Community was a success. Hawaii had two (2) presenters at the conference. DCAB was one group that presented on Team Building and Collaboration in Hawaii and the second group presented on Hawaii's Feeling Safe, Being Safe program being funded by a grant at the University of Hawaii's Center on Disability Studies. Read more about the presentations in the first article in this issue.
September has been a busy month for everyone from school starting again to emergency preparedness activities. Hopefully, we all have our plans and kits ready in case of an emergency because it is still hurricane season.
The Emergency Preparedness E-News is written to keep the community aware of issues and events related to emergency preparedness and individuals with disabilities and special health needs. Please feel free to send DCAB information that you would like to have included in a future issue. We look forward to hearing from you. Aloha,Debbie JacksonPlanner |
FEMA's Getting Real II Conference
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Left to Right: Melvin Kaku, Debbie Jackson, Joanne Getty, Nicole Kelly, Marcie Roth, Moji Obiako, Landa Phelan, Miss Pearline, Dawn Skaggs
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FEMA's Getting Real II Conference: Promising Practices in Inclusive Emergency Management for the Whole Community was held at the Crystal City Marriott hotel in Arlington, VA on September 12-14, 2011. Hawaii had seven (7) people representing the state and emergency management activities impacting individuals with disabilities.
The first presentation on Team Building and Collaboration in Hawaii was a team presentation, consisting of representatives from the Interagency Action Plan for the Emergency Preparedness of Persons with Disabilities and Special Health Needs Working Group: Debbie Jackson-Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB), Mojisola Obiako-Department of Health (DOH), Melvin Kaku-City and County of Honolulu Department of Emergency Management (DEM), Dawn Skaggs-University of Hawaii Center on Disability Studies (UH, CDS), and Yolanda Phelan-Hawaii Association of the Blind (HAB) Board Member.
The second presentation on Hawaii's Feeling Safe, Being Safe program consisted of Dawn Skaggs-UH, CDS, Joanne Getty and Nicole Kelly-Easter Seals of Hawaii who presented on a program of self advocates training other people with disabilities to make a plan and prepare a go-kit for emergencies. The group is pictured above with Marcie Roth, Director of FEMA's Office of Disability Integration and Coordination.
The workshops conducted by the Hawaii groups were well received. For anyone who was unable to attend the conference, all workshops will be webcast beginning in mid-October. The web site will be announced in the next newsletter.
Each member of the Hawaii group was impacted a great deal by being able to participate in the conference. On the final day of the conference in a team report, we expressed our commitment to improve emergency management for persons with access and functional needs in Hawaii by working towards making the Functional Assessment Service Team (FAST) program available in Hawaii for the Pacific Rim. For more information about the workshops offered at the conference or about our experience, contact Debbie Jackson at (808) 586-8121. |
FEMA Partnering with Tribal Nations
 On September 19, 2011, a news release from FEMA announced that as of this date, the Ready Indian Country campaign is launched as a part of its National Preparedness Month's outreach. This new campaign provides disaster preparedness information resources for five hundred sixty-five (565) federally-recognized tribal nations and communities across the country. The goal of Ready Indian Country is to partner with tribal leaders in asking individuals and families in Indian Country to take basic steps to prepare themselves for emergencies.
"Our tribal nations and organizations are a key member of our nation's emergency management team and this campaign will help us build on the already strong partnerships we have developed," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. "By strengthening these communities' ability to be better prepared in the face of emergencies and disasters, together we can save lives and bolster our resiliency against all hazards."
Ready Indian Country is designed to promote preparedness within tribal communities through education and outreach. It is intended to serve as a resource for Tribes to prepare their citizens and provide support in developing and implementing pre-disaster policies and procedures.
Jefferson Keel, President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) said that "The National Congress of American Indians supports the efforts by FEMA to include Indian Country. Tribal governments are continually striving to develop, improve, and enhance their emergency preparedness capabilities in order to better ensure the safety of their citizens. Staying proactive and creating lasting partnerships will help tribes achieve that goal and will build sustainable and resilient tribal communities in the process. NCAI appreciates this opportunity to work with FEMA and the Ready.gov program."
Ready Indian Country's resources include existing Ready campaign messaging and builds on existing capacity with specific tools customized for Indian Country. These include:- Brochures, posters and billboards customized by geographical region to reflect diverse local conditions and American Indian and Alaska Native cultures;
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Radio public service announcements (PSAs) in 60, 30 and 15 second formats, and
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Tribal Leader Resources to help guide community emergency and disaster planning efforts.
Ready Indian Country's resources can be found at http://www.ready.gov/IndianCountry. FEMA News Release: National Preparedness Month Launch is part of Larger Efforts to Partner with Tribal Nations as they Prepare for Disasters, September 19, 2011. |
Kauai County Urges Sign-up for Connect-CTY
 The Garden Island newspaper reports that in light of recent hurricanes on the East Coast, County of Kauai officials urged residents and businesses who have not yet signed up for Connect-CTY to do so.
Connect-CTY is a free mass notification service utilized by the county to alert the public about civil defense emergencies including: tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, flash floods, and any other situation that impacts the safety, property, or welfare of residents and visitors, a county news release stated. This service augments other venues of public notification, such as news releases, radio and television interviews as well as the Internet.
In the news release, Theodore Daligdig III, Civil Defense Manager said "I strongly encourage those who haven't had a chance to sign up for Connect-CTY yet to please do so as this will enable them to receive important information about emergencies. I also want to remind residents and businesses whose published phone numbers have changed within the past year to call us and let us know what their current number is so we can update our files. Publicly available residential and business phones on Kauai are included in the county's Connect-CTY system, along with those who have signed up for the service, any changes should be reported to the county."
Also, anyone wanting to include alternate means of contact in their file may add their cell phone number, text device/pager and e-mail information to the Connect-CTY system for an even greater chance of being contacted especially if away from a landline.
To register for Connect-CTY, visit http://www.kauai.gov/default.aspx?tabid=344. To provide updated information for the Connect-CTY service call 241-1800. If you do not have access to the Internet, you can have your phone number and other pertinent information added to the county database by calling 241-1800.
Information from the County of Kauai, Garden Island, posted: Tuesday August 30, 2011. |
State Health Department Receives Federal Funds
 The Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) was awarded $5,260,290 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as part of the federal Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program. The funding received in the award will support DOH efforts to strengthen public health emergency preparedness including increasing capacity in the areas of laboratory testing, disease surveillance and investigation, public information and warning, community preparedness, and other capabilities.
"Whether it's preparing for natural disasters or disease outbreaks, the DOH is always working on protecting the public's safety," noted Health Director Loretta Fuddy. "An investment in emergency preparedness is an investment in the well-being of the people of Hawaii. This federal award will help us do even more to be ready for challenges that might face us."Using an all-hazards approach, DOH PHEP, planning and training cover a wide range of preparedness measures including food safety defense, rapid detection, identification of and response to threat agents and toxins, bioterrorism preparedness, robust interoperable communications, effective emergency public notification and alerts, and the ability to quickly and securely receive and dispense critical medication and supplies to the entire state population.
The PHEP program recently released a Ten Year Summary Report outlining accomplishments, goals, and challenges in public health emergency preparedness in Hawaii over the past decade. The report is available online at: http://hawaii.gov/health/BT/TenYRSummary.html. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you can choose to view it as a printable (pdf) or word (doc) document.
For more information on the DOH PHEP program, go to: http://hawaii.gov/health/BT/index.html. For more information on the CDC PHEP cooperative agreement, see http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/coopagreement.htm.
Excerpted from DOH News Release #11-05, September 27, 2011. |
Developing Tsunami Strategies
 Hawaii is unique in being the only state in the United States consisting of island counties, but we are not the only geographic location that needs to prepare for tsunamis. Long Beach in Washington state is an area that may be impacted by a tsunami if an earthquake strikes in that area.
What was described in an article in the Star Advertiser written by Mike Baker of the Associated Press at the end of August was the issue of earthquakes and tsunamis. Coastal communities in Washington may have a plight similar to an earthquake occurring on the Big Island giving residents on Oahu approximately fifteen (15) minutes to evacuate coastal areas by heading towards higher ground or evacuate vertically as you would do in a hotel in the Waikiki area. Long Beach, WA is a small town located in an area just above sea level. If an earthquake strikes off the Northwest coast, it may result in a tsunami that would only leave coastal communities in that area about 20 minutes to evacuate to higher ground to escape the surge of water. As in Hawaii, people in coastal areas need to move quickly towards higher ground or drive there in probable gridlock traffic.
Emergency planners are attempting to learn from the recent experience of the March 11, 2011 tsunami in Japan, and results are that coastal community officials from Washington, Oregon and California are researching and developing plans for potential evacuation sites. Scientists believe it is a matter of time before the next mega-quake strikes at the Cascadia Subduction Zone just off the Northwest coast. Such quakes would send tsunamis straight onto shore. The mega-quakes occur every four to five hundred (400-500) years with the last one happening about three hundred (300) years ago. Oregon's Geology Department is reassessing the possible destruction that a tsunami could inflict on the coast. Some communities are developing plans to build massive hills or structures that could be used to escape a tsunami. Vertical evacuation has not been tried in the continental U.S., unlike sites in Japan or Hawaii.
For planners whose ideas involve building new facilities, there is an expense factor. In reviewing plans and cost issues, some officials have refocused efforts from building new facilities or hardening existing facilities to withstand tsunamis to creating elevated structures and to shelter people on upper levels of buildings. Planning efforts made and completed now will establish a good foundation for emergency planners to protect more people and have them evacuate to safety in the event of a tsunami strike in the future.
Excerpted from the Star Advertiser, "Towns Work to Develop Tsunami Strategies,"
by Mike Baker of the Associated Press, August 28, 2011. |
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Contact Information
Disability and Communication Access Board
919 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 101
Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone: (808) 586-8121 (V/TTY)
Fax: (808) 586-8129
E-mail: DCAB General Delivery
Web site: DCAB Home Page County of Hawaii: 974-4000, ext. 6-8121# Couny of Kauai: 274-3141, ext. 6-8121# County of Maui: 984-2400, ext. 6-8121# Molokai & Lanai: 1-800-468-4644 , ext. 6-8121# |
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