Disaster plan sought at UH
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
The Army Corps of Engineers has estimated it would cost between $80 million and $120 million to make the changes necessary to prevent another flood of the magnitude that hit Manoa Valley and the University of Hawai'i on Oct. 30.
Faculty, administrators and staff are considering a range of more immediate measures as part of a broad new disaster plan, including: • Building a levee and alternate stream diversion channels behind the Biomedical Sciences Building that, along with Hamilton Library, suffered the brunt of the approximately $76 million damage sustained by the campus. • Developing key lists such as cell phone numbers, chemical storage areas and having a centralized information center to handle campus queries. • Creating backup systems for the most precious materials, including computer backup in safe areas on and off campus. • Looking into the feasibility of a campus emergency warning or alarm system. • Creating a less centralized and "brittle" electrical system. • Looking at a suggestion to keep a disaster recovery firm like BMS CATASTROPHE on a consultant contract.
The figure emerged yesterday during a seminar at UH to look at how the campus managed the flood — and what improvements are needed to avert disaster in the event of another one.
Disaster measures being considered
Staff told how UH had failed in some key areas, with some researchers and units saying there still hasn't been sufficient support to help them recover and move forward.
Not only did the campus lack a contemporary disaster plan, according to one top researcher, there was no centralized inventory of chemicals stored in the basement of one of the agricultural lab buildings, communications sytems were lacking, the campus security force didn't have cell phone numbers for top administrators, deans often had no idea how their buildings worked, and many units and individuals had no backup systems for their work.
"There was no organized communication tree," said Douglas Vincent, special director for contracts and grants for the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
Angel Anne Yanagihara said only recently was a diesel-powered generator moved, but not soon enough to prevent diesel soot from contaminating her lab, stalling applications for new grants.
Chief librarian Diane Perushek said her staff bought their own walkie-talkies to communicate inside the flooded-out library, and even arranged their own counseling for staff suffering emotional scars from seeing a lifetime of work washed away.
"One-third of the people who worked in the basement say they will never work there again," Perushek said.
Neal Smatresk, vice chancellor for academic affairs, acknowledged some of the problems, noting that the seminar was one of the ways administrators were working to create a plan for the next disaster, one that addresses shortcomings in every area.
"Every unit will be involved in emergency planning," he said. "We need to focus not just on rebuilding but how do we do a better job — not just replace what's there. ... There's federal money for 'hardening' your campus and making it better able to handle something like this."
Kalvin Kashimoto, director of facilities, grounds and safety, said it became clear that UH needed a wide range of emergency items, from their own walkie-talkies, to a list of where all the generators on the island were housed.
Smatresk's comments also made it clear that overall the state is highly vulnerable to any disaster of major proportions.
"I live in fear of a broader disaster," he said. "If there is one, there won't be enough generators on this island. In a big disaster we won't have cell phones either."
With power and computer services cut off to most of the campus in the first few days after the flood, people on campus assessing damage stayed in touch primarily by cell phone, although there was no central list of numbers.
Senior project manager Derek J. Chow of the Army Corps of Engineers said the $80 million to $120 million estimate for measures to avert another such disaster would include restoring the stream habitat, reconstructing bridges, creating flood walls, restoring a flood plain, stabilizing the bank, re-creating wetlands, and reducing trash and sediment loads, among other measures.
Manoa chancellor Peter Englert said: "Hundred-year floods occur more frequently (approximately every 25 years, said several scientists) and we need to be prepared."
Meanwhile, Eric Hirano, chief of the engineering division of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said that the state plans in April to begin a computer modeling of the flood to evaluate the factors that created it. Figuring into the model will be a thunderstorm that stalled over the area, heavy rain earlier that day, debris in the stream from the watershed area, and the impact of 47 percent of the valley land that is covered by concrete and impervious to rain.
"Clean the debris," insisted Ed Cheng, a civil engineer at UH. "That's all you have to do."
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
