Tag: Hawaii

Hawaii highlights how resilience is changing the narrative

Hawaii is known for sun, surf and the “aloha” spirit — and in the energy world, as a progressive place that has set landmark goals of 100 percent renewable energy for the state and other clean transportation goals for its counties.

In the era of climate change, the success of clean energy will depend on whether the grid architecture is resilient.

As an island state, Hawaii knows all too well the destructive force of our planet, based on past experiences with Hurricanes Iwa (1982) and Iniki (1992) that affected multiple islands.

Just this year alone, our state has endured a string of bad weather conditions — from heavy rain-induced flooding on Kauai and Oahu in April, to back-to-back major storms in August (Hurricane Lane) and September (Tropical Storm Olivia).

> Read entire article VERGE Hawaii highlighted how ‘resilience’ is changing the narrative | Kyle Datta | Greenbiz
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How the Kilauea Eruption Affected This Hawaii Community | National Geographic

Sharing a deep connection to nature’s power—and to people displaced by it—two photographers document a volcano’s destruction, and help the Leilani Estates community recover.

Hawaii missile alert fallout: The importance of clarity in crisis communication

Companies can learn quite a bit from the recent Hawaiian missile clusterflip, particularly about timeliness and clarity in crisis communications.

Posted on The American Genius | By Roger Jones

The federal investigation into the Hawaii civil defense snafu earlier this month revealed that there were serious errors in how the training exercise was conducted between two shifts and in the ongoing performance concerns of the employee directly responsible for sending out the alert.

For 38 minutes, citizens and visitors in the Hawaiian Islands cowered in fear, alerted to take immediate shelter by messages that were received on cellphones and broadcast on TV stations across the state. While officials attempted to calm the populace by taking to Twitter immediately to quell the concerns, many people were not—understandably—taking to tweeting what may have been their last thoughts, and thus were not informed until a follow up message was broadcast to cellphones nearly 40 minutes later.

The night-shift supervisor wanted to test the preparedness of the morning-shift workers with an unannounced drill, according to the FCC report.

Read entire article Hawaiian missile strike fallout: The importance of clarity in crisis communication | The American Genius

Exercise Apple Crumble: The proof is in the pudding

The much-publicized events in Hawaii last week were seen from differing perspectives. There were those that experienced angst and confusion about what was happening (or not) and those that were perhaps, a little embarrassed.

For whatever reason the text message alert was deployed, to a degree, it doesn’t really matter. People will always look at the negative aspect of such an incident. A near miss perhaps? A blunder? A cock-up so to speak.

Government officials, resilience experts, social commentators et al had or will have, their say and opinion on the matter. But what about the positives? Were there any ‘good things’ to come out of the ‘pressed in error’ moment?

On last Saturday, a Civil Defense employee sparked
terror in Hawaii by accidentally triggering ballistic
missile warning. Thousands fled to bomb shelters.

An email is not just for Christmas… it’s for life

I’ve used this line before in an earlier article but its true. In the digital, social media world, as well as everyday IT capability, what we do is electronically captured and recipients have a tendency not to forget.

It is possible that this ‘error’ moment has caused confusion for sure, as media reports clearly show. However, there were also a great deal of learning that such a capability (the alerting) could take place.

We live in a world today where people are more astute to the hazards, risks and threats of danger. People of course don’t want to be panicked or given false alarms, but equally, people want to be resilient.

Who knew?

Some countries may not have the ability, bravery or vision to have a function to cascade a broad message as seen in Hawaii. Some will undoubtedly do it ‘better’ perhaps. But how many of the public and wider world would even consider that such a step existed?

Exercise or not

Emergency and disaster exercises are well thought through events today. Multi – agency planning to ‘test’ and validated emergency plans and procedures to tackle the ‘risks’. They are of course, ‘costly’ events to stage. Lessons will hopefully be identified, and actions taken to enhance the plans, knowledge, confidence and competence of the responders (and the public if they are to be part of the plan).

Yes of course, it appears that the event in Hawaii was an error and some embarrassment was caused. But at the same time, the country is now aware such a capability exists and therefore some (positive) learning has taken place.

It does not appear to have been an exercise as such, but reality is, threats do exist; period. The government agencies, responders and voluntary sectors have plans and procedures in place to mitigate the risks.

There is no such thing as bad publicity as the saying goes. But of course, bad publicity affects reputation in any walk of life. The publicity from the Hawaiian event should not be seen in a totally negative light.

It has raised more awareness not just there but on a global scale. Is that such a bad thing? I think not.

Paul Kudray

A truly down to earth, grounded individual who is a resilience professional. Helping people and organizations to build and maintain their capabilities to respond to and recover from, crisis, emergencies or disasters. Paul is the ‘resilience maverick’ because he is not like the average resilience professional. Paul wants to help everyone be a bit more resilient because they can! paul@kudrayconsulting.com

Hawaii panics after incoming missile alert is sent in error

The unspeakable nearly happened for the people of Hawaii. At least, they were confronted with the “what do I do” portion.

Posted on Huntington News | By Tony E. Rutherford

At 8:07 a.m. (Hawaiian Time) an emergency message went out that “this is not a drill… take shelter” due to an incoming missile.

Since the North Korean tests have put the island and other countries such as Guam, Japan, and South Korea on notice, the now described ‘mistake’ jolted the populace. One video shows a presumed father placing his young daughter down inside a storm drain.

Officially, during a shift change, the warning button was accidentally pressed that activated alerts to cell phones, TV and radio. For the short term, the question is fixing the system so such an ‘accident’ by apparently one person cannot occur again.

Incredibly, officials said the employee who made the mistake wasn’t aware of it until mobile phones in the command center began displaying the alert. ‘This guy feels bad, right. He’s not doing this on purpose – it was a mistake on his part and he feels terrible about it,‘ said EMA Administrator Vern Miyagi in a press conference Saturday afternoon.

Civil Defense employee who sparked terror in Hawaii accidentally triggered ballistic missile warning and thousands fled to bomb shelters!

Read complete article FALSE ALARM: Hawaii Prepared for incoming ICBM | Huntington News

NASA’s Mars research crew emerges after 8 months of isolation in Hawaii

Six NASA-backed research subjects who have been cooped up in a Mars-like habitat on a remote Hawaii volcano since January emerged from isolation Sunday. They devoured fresh-picked tropical fruits, vegetables and a fluffy egg strata after eating mostly freeze-dried food during their isolation.

The crew of four men and two women are part of a study designed to better understand the psychological impacts a long-term space mission would have on astronauts.

The data they produced will help NASA select individuals and groups with the right mix of traits to best cope with the stress, isolation and danger of a two-to-three year trip to Mars. The U.S. space agency hopes to send humans to the red planet by the 2030s.

The crew was quarantined for eight months on a vast plain below the summit of the Big Island’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano. After finishing their stint, they feasted on pineapple, mango and papaya.

Read entire article NASA’s Mars research crew emerges after 8 months of isolation in Hawaii | Business Insider

2017 Hawaii hurricane season to be more active than normal, but not extreme

The 2017 Central Pacific hurricane season, which includes interests in Hawaii, is likely to be active but not nearly as busy as 2015.

The Central Pacific basin is the area bounded by 140 and 180 degrees west longitude and includes the islands and waters surrounding Hawaii.

“The combination of warm water and a typical amount of disruptive winds should lead to a slightly more active tropical season for the Central Pacific when compared to average,” according to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski.

El Niño is forecast to develop but remain weak for the 2017 hurricane season. There is a higher-than-average chance for the Hawaiian Islands to be affected by one to two tropical cyclones this season,” Kottlowski said. “This should not be an extreme year for hurricanes in Hawaii.”

Hawaii hurricane

A tropical cyclone is a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane.

It is fairly routine for a tropical cyclone to approach the Hawaiian Islands from the east. However, the Big Island, which lies farthest to the east, often interferes with the path and organization of these systems. The forecast includes tropical cyclones that form in the Central Pacific basin and/or cyclones that may originate from the East Pacific, or east of 140 west. Should El Niño become stronger than anticipated, then greater numbers of tropical storms and hurricanes are likely with perhaps a greater number of potential impacts on the Hawaiian Islands.

The Central Pacific hurricane season is from June 1 to Nov. 3. The most likely time for a tropical cyclone to occur in the Central Pacific basin is from July to October with August being the peak month.

“All tropical systems are dangerous, but the worst-case track for a tropical system to have major impact Hawaii is from the south,” Kottlowski said. “Fortunately, tropical systems moving in this manner are rare. The potential for a high-impact storm on Hawaii that springs up from the south is low for 2017”.

In 2016, westward-moving Tropical Storm Darby made landfall over the southern part of the Big Island with minor impact. Hurricane Pali, from Jan. 11-14, 2016, was the earliest hurricane to form on record in the basin. Including Pali, which formed prior to the official start of the season, there were seven tropical cyclones in 2016.

Source: AccuWeather

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