Posted on: Wednesday, May 22, 2002

EDITORIAL
Disaster preparedness not option in Hawai'i

Anyone who weathered hurricanes 'Iwa (1982) and 'Iniki (1992) on Kaua'i and the Wai'anae Coast will tell you that surviving such a storm is half the battle. The damage and disruption visited by hurricanes can change your life totally for a matter of days, weeks and even months.

Hurricanes can hit us in any year, but El Nino years (1982, 1992 and, it appears, 2002) see larger numbers of hurricanes in waters neighboring Hawai'i, and thus an elevated chance of a direct hit.

Because we try to write an editorial every year come hurricane season, perhaps they begin to lose some of the urgency they had in, say, 1983 and '93. That's why we're glad to see Advertiser columnist Lee Cataluna pitch in. She wrote movingly of the folks who lined up for hours at the Kapa'a Safeway as 'Iniki bore down, only to find empty shelves when they finally got through the door.

Don't let that happen to you. Spend some time now to write a list of the emergency supplies you'll need when that day comes for you, and stock up now. You'll find suggestions on Page 57 of the O'ahu phone book.

We'd like to re-emphasize one point made by Cataluna, about how many of us may have been lulled into a false sense of security: "People may think that if a hurricane hits, then somehow, someone will take care of them."

It came as a rude surprise to a lot of folks on Kaua'i after 'Iniki that just because their house was flattened, they had no lights or phone, no drinkable water, that just because all the food in their warm refrigerator was turning rancid, didn't mean that the National Guard or the Red Cross was going to set up a relief kitchen in their yard within hours.

The fact is that after a disaster of this nature, you're likely to be on your own, possibly for a prolonged period. So be prepared.