Every Hawaii family should be prepared for the next Katrina

SEPTEMBER marks National Preparedness Month, and at the state Department of Defense, which includes state Civil Defense, we are constantly looking at new ways in which everyone -- emergency responders, residents and tourists -- can be better prepared before the next major natural disaster strikes Hawaii.

We have been focusing our efforts on aggressively expanding and upgrading our shelters throughout the state, retrofitting public buildings to serve as shelters and updating our plans to shelter residents with special needs. This month we are planning a flood awareness campaign with a special focus on stream maintenance, flood insurance and personal preparedness.

Concurrently, we will work to raise public awareness of the tsunami threat to Hawaii through public meetings, open exhibits and a series of public service announcements.

WE HAVE LEARNED some valuable lessons after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005 and are better prepared today than we were one year ago. This past legislative session, Governor Lingle stressed the importance of Hawaii's preparedness and urged the state Legislature to pass additional funding of $1 million to buy new early warning systems, $2 million to retrofit homes and buildings against high wind damage, $1 million to purchase emergency supplies for emergency shelters, $250,000 toward hazard awareness programs and $4 million to retrofit public buildings that can serve as emergency shelters.

In addition, Governor Lingle convinced the Legislature to join the Emergency Assistance Compact, a state-by-state mutual aid agreement that will allow Hawaii to ask for help from other states when disaster strikes. Hawaii was the last state to join this important agreement.

We will continue to work with the state Legislature to ensure that we move forward with our plans, but a huge part of the preparedness effort for any state is tied directly to individual and family preparedness.

I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE homeowners, if they haven't already done so, to install hurricane clips and to consider installation of a safe room in their homes. And as always, we implore all residents to have a disaster supply kit that consists of non-perishable foods, and at least one gallon of water per person per day for three days.

We do not currently have enough spaces in public shelters to accommodate every single resident and tourist. That is precisely why state Civil Defense and other government agencies, including non-government groups, are diligently working to create additional shelter spaces throughout the state while considering other measures and strategies to protect our residents and visitors.

WE WILL CONTINUE to work with our partners from the federal, state and county governments, as well as non-governmental organizations and the military to revise and update our plans to deal with severe storm systems as well as the full range of natural and human-caused disasters.

We take disaster planning on the state level very seriously and I again strongly encourage every head of household to do the same on an individual and family basis.

Preparedness and being "storm ready" is everybody's business.

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