Gene and Betty Smith never took hurricane preparedness very seriously until Hurricane Iwa ripped the roof off their 'Aiea home.

Gene Smith, 75, recalls being only vaguely concerned about Iwa that November afternoon in 1982, right up until high winds slammed into their house.

The hurricane "looked like a tornado laying on its side," he said. "It hit our house one whack. It took our whole lanai roof, it punched holes in the rest of the roof."

Smith; his wife, Betty; son Steve, then 14; and daughter Jacque, then 10, huddled near the doorway, trying to calm their two cats and figure out what to do next.

"I thought the whole house was coming down," he said.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. But they didn't have any plan for their pets, they didn't have a cache of emergency supplies ready, they hadn't seriously considered what might happen if a big storm hit.

Neighbors helped by bringing them food. The family gathered other gear they needed and got by, though they struggled through months of regular flooding during the rainy weather that followed the storm until repairs were complete.

Today they feel prepared for hurricane season. They have strengthened their house and created an emergency plan, and they stock up on supplies.

O'ahu Civil Defense Agency spokesman John Cummings III saw a surge in preparedness after both Hurricanes Iwa and Iniki (1992). He believes more people in the community are better prepared than ever before. And devastating images from Hurricane Katrina have nudged even more people to plan.

Inquiries to Civil Defense and other emergency agencies are up, contractors report a number of calls from people seeking estimates on measures to fortify their homes and retailers say people have been packing away water, flashlights, batteries and other goods for their hurricane kits.

KATRINA FACTOR

Gerald Peters, president of HPS Home Services Inc., has run a handyman/contracting service since 1994, and said Katrina has people calling him for help on hurricane protection — a specialty of his — like never before.

"I think that people are taking it seriously this time," Peters said. "We got more calls in the 10 days after Katrina than in the last five years combined."

Four hurricanes swirling in the Pacific this week also helped to raise public awareness.

"No one wants to go through what the survivors of Katrina did, and we are trying to take a lesson from them," said Susan St. Aubin of Hawai'i Kai.

"After Katrina and the horror stories about the animals that were left or abandoned, our first priority after human life, is our three dogs," she said.

Her bottom line? "Worrying and doing something about approaching storms when they get here is too late," she said. She now has emergency supplies ready for her family, including her dogs.

At Civil Defense, Cummings encourages folks to make planning for an emergency just another part of their routine. (See checklist.)

LESSONS LEARNED

Several years ago the Smiths hired Peters to hurricane-proof their house, adding metal clips and a system of steel cables that can anchor the house in the event of a big storm.

Smith said they routinely stock up on food, batteries, flashlights and other survival-kit basics. And they have pet carriers, supplies and water ready for their cats as well. If they had to evacuate, the cats would go, too, he said.

"They'd be with us in carriers in the car and we know that they'd be safe," he said. "They're better off than in the house."

Smith said the storm also taught him to be ready to cover the windows with plywood, which he now keeps stacked under the house. Now he knows where the nearest shelters are and what he and his family would need to take with them if forced to evacuate.

Cummings emphasizes that kind of planning. He believes that most Hawai'i households don't need to spend a lot of money to be ready, because they already have much of what they need at home — food, water, camping supplies, first-aid kits.

"In general, they're probably pretty prepared right now," Cummings said.

Cummings said Civil Defense is trying to broaden its reach within various immigrant groups in the community to make sure everyone understands the need to be prepared. They have distributed some multilingual brochures and spoken to various groups with the help of translators.

The agency also is partnering with radio station KNDI to consider emergency broadcasts in various languages. "We need to be more proactive within our non-English speaking community," he said.

If you do need supplies, buy them before a threat looms, he said. That will assure that you're prepared in the event of a tsunami or other emergency that occurs with little or no notice and help you avoid the kind of panic buying that can set in when a threat looms. With storms brewing off Hawai'i in the past few days, some stores ran short of bottled water.

Talk now about where you might meet in various emergencies, said Cummings. "Most of the stress people go through after the disaster is knowing where the family is," he said.

What about Work?

Some weekend before the kids head off to the park, parents run their errands and grandma visits relatives, Cummings suggests that you ask them: "OK, if something happened, where would we meet?"

He said some people use the beginning-of-the-month siren drills to remind them to plan.

It's also helpful to find out your workplace plans. First, make sure there are plans. If you're expected to come to work, where can your children wait out the emergency?

Cummings said many businesses have good disaster plans. Others have considered how to back up their computer data but not how to help get their employees to work.

"All of these businesses have to get running again and they can only do it if employees are ready to go," Cummings said.

A HELPFUL TIP

After Katrina, some workers didn't show up because they were trying to care for their own families. Some Hawai'i businesses, including hotels in Waikiki, have made a plan for workers to bring their families with them in certain emergencies, Cummings said.

"The employees can work because they don't have to worry about their families," he said.

Susan Jaworowski, of Palolo, first geared up for an emergency after she moved to the Islands from Connecticut in 1984 and saw the warnings in the phone book. "I dutifully stocked up on bottled water, batteries, flashlights and nonperishable food items," she said.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.