DCAB is updating the 2009 Interagency Action Plan for the Emergency Preparedness of Persons with Disabilities and Special Health Needs. Public forums are planned for each county to obtain feedback about community needs during a disaster and how to revise the plan.

One of the first revisions to the plan will be to update the language to have it consistent with FEMA's Functional Needs Support Services (FNSS) Guidance for General Population Shelters. The new terminology used in the FNSS is "people with access and functional needs" instead of "people with disabilities." It will not be difficult to include that change. Since each county is unique, we want to be sure to include items the local disability communities feel is important for emergency preparedness and emergency management.

The forums are scheduled as follows: 

December 3, 2012 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Hilo at the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) Training Room, 1055 Kino'ole Street;

December 5, 2012 10:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Wailuku at the State Building, Third floor Conference Room, 54 High Street;

December 6, 2012 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Lihue at the State Building, Second floor, Conference Rooms A, B, & C, 3059 Umi Street;   

December 10, 2012 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in Kona at West Hawaii Civic Center, Community Meeting Hale, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway; and

December 17, 2012 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. on Oahu at 919 Ala Moana Blvd., Fifth floor Conference Room.  

If you would like a flyer or to register for the event contact Debbie Jackson at DCAB at the following toll free numbers:

984-2400, ext. 6-8121# - Maui

274-3141, ext. 6-8121# - Kauai

974-4000, ext. 6-8121# - Big Island

586-8121 - Oahu

If you need an auxiliary aid or service due to a disability to participate in the forum, please make your request at least 7 working days prior to the event and arrangements will be made.

The City & County of Honolulu's Department of Emergency Management (DEM) held its first meeting of the Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant (RCPG) Hurricane Catastrophic Planning Project Kick-Off on Friday, October 16, 2012 at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. The meeting featured a number of speakers: Major General Daryll D.W. Wong, the Adjutant General; Melvin Kaku, Director and RCPG Chair, Doug Mayne, Vice Director of State Civil Defense, and George Whitney, Manager, Tetra Tech Program. The cross section of speakers illustrated the partnership between jurisdictions to work on the RCPG.

The purpose of the RCPG is to fund enhanced catastrophic incident preparedness in selected sites. The intent of the RCPG is to support coordination of regional all-hazard planning for catastrophic events, including the development of integrated planning communities, plans, protocols, and procedures to manage a catastrophic event.  It will focus on demonstrating the progress made by the counties statewide in identifying remaining gaps, and implementing the Whole Community Philosophy, which ensures the engagement of the entire community in the planning process.

The participants who met at the Kick-Off were invited to attend as agency representatives, and Mr. Kaku reported that approximately 187 invitations were sent out with a response from about 160 of the agencies invited. There are nine (9) objectives the RCPG Hurricane Planning Project that includes: perform life saving and sustaining measures; conduct mass care and sheltering; minimize risks to tourists, maintain functionality of the water distribution system; deliver fuel to maintain essential services; power restoration; maintain continuity of port operations; conduct debris clearance; and protect on-island critical resources. There will be five (5) task force working groups established to focus on mass feeding, mass evacuation, debris, energy, and critical resource relocation. DCAB will probably join the mass evacuation task force working group.

More information will be provided as work on the RCPG Hurricane Planning Project progresses.

DCAB is collaborating with State Civil Defense (SCD) to update the At hoc participant list by sending out e-mails to individuals currently on the list. The e-mail will read as follows: 

The Blackboard notification system is similar to the Nixle system (used by the City and County of Honolulu), but is used to notify individuals of specific threats to Hawaii.  For example, if the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) issues a Tsunami Watch for an earthquake that occurs off the coast of Chile, individuals will receive a short message such as 'The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a Tsunami Watch, please tune in to your local broadcast station for further information.'  Blackboard will focus on specific threats to Hawaii via watches or warnings issued by the National Weather Service, PTWC, NOAA or other official agencies.

As the user you may choose to receive these notifications through a phone call, TTY or e-mail.

If you wish to receive emergency notifications through Blackboard, please contact Steven Yoshimura at State Civil Defense (DO NOT Reply TO THIS E-MAIL) and let him know. Also, please correct any contact information that may have changed on the list, so the system has your most current information. Steven's phone number is (808) 733-4300, x576 and his e-mail address is syoshimura@scd.hawaii.gov."

If you receive an e-mail with the above information, please DO NOT REPLY to it. You need to send Steven Yoshimura an email or call State Civil Defense at (808) 733-4300, x576 to update your information or remove your name from the list.

Also, some of the names did not have e-mail addresses listed. If you think you are a subscriber to emergency notifications from State Civil Defense, please contact Mr. Yoshimura and update your information for the new notification system. 

Large organizations such as the University of Hawaii (UH) may establish emergency alert systems for specific populations. This article provides a brief explanation about a system at UH called UH Alert.

The UH Alert emergency notification system alerts the university community in the event of a natural, health or civil emergency. The information the person provides will only be used in the event of an emergency that impacts the health and safety of the UH community or closures of whole campuses. It will not be shared with others or used for routine UH communications or announcements. This system is only people for that are affiliated with the UH (faculty, staff and students).

Information about the UH Alert Emergency System:

1. UH e-mail will be sent related administrative and health and safety alerts once the person signs up.
2. Alerts can be sent via text message to student, faculty and staff mobile phones.
3. One message per semester is scheduled to test the UH Alert system. Depending on the subscriber's plan, a charge by your cell phone carrier for this message may be incurred.
4. Although every effort is made to deliver emergency information, due to limitations with public carrier networks it cannot be guaranteed you will receive an emergency message.
5. The use of this capability will be limited to emergency communications. Emergency communications are urgent notices regarding matters that impact the health and safety of members of the UH community and closures of whole campuses. This determination will be made only by the president, vice presidents, chancellors, vice chancellors and formally designated emergency coordinators.
6. Personal information provided to UH will not be given or rented to any third party for any reason other than emergency notification.
7. It is the person's responsibility to update information or unsubscribe completely. When the person's relationship with UH is terminated, the person will automatically be unsubscribed from the UH Alert system. Once the person's UH Username is deprovisioned, the person's subscription to UH Alert will terminate automatically.  

State Civil Defense began testing sirens on Oahu last week. On November 15 and 16, sirens were tested in: Kuliouou Park, Moanalua Valley, Ewa Elementary School, Ewa Beach Shopping Center, Ala Wai Boat Harbor, Ala Moana Beach Park, Camp Erdman, Fred Wright Park, Mililani High School, Mililani Tech Park, Mililani Mauka District Park, Campbell Industrial Park, Kapolei, and Honokai Hale.

This week sirens will be tested Monday through Wednesday. Areas scheduled include: Aiea High School, Aiea Heights, Waimalu Elementary School, Pearl City District Park, Palisades Elementary School, Crestview Park, Waipahu Shopping Center, DOE Nursery-22nd Street, Aina Hina Elementary School, and Niu Valley. Wednesday, November 21st will be the final day of testing. 

Sirens will sound for 30-seconds during the morning and afternoon, and technicians will use the data collected from all these tests to verify operational status and maintenance actions. If Oahu residents have questions or concerns, State Civil Defense can be contacted at (808) 733-4300.

To report routine siren operations issues, contact the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Emergency Management at (808) 723-8960.

State Civil Defense encourages the public to obtain information from a variety of sources such as radio, television, text notification systems and the National Oceanic an Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio.