Posted on: Sunday, February 23, 2003

Air travel key to war preparedness

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

HPD Assistant Police Chief Boisse Correa says the disaster-response system is ready, but "if something happens," city resources would be stretched to their limits. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

The state House Select Committee on War Preparedness — in announcing its first recommendations to the Legislature yesterday — focused on the importance of the airline industry to the state, and heard from experts who said Hawai'i's disaster response system is prepared for war, though stretched thin in resources.

"Hawai'i is unique as an island state and its airways serve as it's highways," the committee stated in a drafted House resolution "requesting the President and Congress of the United States to take specific actions to help the airlines serving the state of Hawai'i in the event of a war."

Those actions include:

• Announcing any intention to release federal petroleum reserves to alleviate any reduction in airline fuel supplies.

• Waiving or substantially reducing federal taxes and fees on airlines operating in the state.

• Paying for or substantially subsidizing federally mandated agricultural inspections for air travel from Hawai'i.

The committee's drafted resolution with its list of recommendations came after a series of meetings since January with the military, public safety, airline and visitor industry leaders. The 10-member committee, comprised of business, government and military representatives, expects its recommendations to be fast-tracked during the current legislative session.

The committee also heard from representatives of the state and county Civil Defense, the Honolulu Police Department and the American Red Cross, who agreed that the state's disaster response system is ready and able, but woefully short of money and people.

HPD Assistant Chief Boisse Correa asked the committee to let the Legislature know that HPD needs its help. He said last year the department spent $4 million on homeland security, much of which it got from other department budgets.

Correa said he has just been informed that the federal government will give the department $84,000 in homeland security money this year — an amount he called "a drop in the bucket when you're spending $4 million."

"Are we ready? We're ready," said Correa. "But keep in mind, if something happens, all city resources are going to be stretched to their limits. And we're concerned because we know that should something happen, our partners in the military might not be there for us."

Ed Teixeira, vice director of the Civil Defense Division for the state, told the committee that the state's top priorities are the prevention of a terrorist attack, protecting Hawai'i's critical infrastructures and increasing the state's ability to respond effectively as a combined team.

He said the system has an "all hazards" approach in dealing with disasters, be those disasters natural or man-made.

The state's Civil Defense system is ready for war or a terrorist attack, said Teixeira.

However, he added, "Having told you that Hawai'i's emergency response system is prepared, I must be very honest with the committee that in my view ... we are very thin."

Still, Glenn Lockwood, director of disaster services for the Hawai'i State Chapter of the Red Cross, told the committee, "I would rather be here than anywhere else."

Lockwood said the reason is that communication between Hawai'i's various disaster agencies is the best he has seen.

"Other states don't talk among agencies," said Lockwood. "I think there's a positive statement to be made in terms of the working relations we have together. It has a lot to do with the fact that we're an insular state.

"We've learned that we have to depend on each other."