What Happens After the Wind Stops?
Prepare & Recover Series — Article 1
Preparing Anahola to Respond, Connect and Recover Together
When a hurricane approaches Hawaiʻi, we hear a lot about what to do before it arrives: buy water, charge your devices, secure your home and prepare an emergency kit.
Those steps are important. But we also need to prepare for what happens after the wind stops.
What happens when the power is out, cellular service is unreliable and roads are blocked by fallen trees, flooding or debris? What happens when emergency crews are responding to incidents across the entire island—or across the entire state? How do we find out which kūpuna need help, which families are isolated, where medical assistance is needed and which roads are still passable?
These are not questions we should wait until after a disaster to answer.
In partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program, the County of Kauaʻi and participating community members, ʻĀina Alliance helped develop the Build Back Better Anahola Pre-Disaster Framework to better understand these risks and begin organizing before a major emergency. We have also created a voluntary neighborhood registry using NRDS Software so residents can begin connecting with the community preparedness system now.
A Hurricane Could Divide Anahola Into Isolated Areas
Anahola is one community, but damage to a few critical roads, bridges or utility systems could quickly separate us into different areas.
The Build Back Better plan identifies three potential isolation zones:
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North Anahola: Areas north of Anahola River extending toward North Aliomanu.
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Anahola Village: The low-lying coastal area south of Anahola River and east of Kūhiō Highway.
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South Anahola: Areas south of Anahola Bridge extending toward Keālia.
Flooding, storm surge, fallen trees, damaged utility poles, landslides and bridge closures could restrict travel between these areas. Residents could be unable to reach stores, medical care, fuel, family members or public assistance for an extended period.
A major hurricane could also affect several islands at once. When communities throughout Hawaiʻi are requesting help simultaneously, outside resources may take longer to arrive. Emergency responders will first focus on immediate threats to life and the most serious incidents.
That does not mean our community will be abandoned. It means we must be prepared to safely support one another while government agencies assess conditions, establish access and deploy limited resources.
Why We Created the Neighborhood Registry
During an emergency, information is one of the most valuable resources a community can have.
We need to know:
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Which households are safe.
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Who may need evacuation or transportation assistance.
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Where kūpuna and medically dependent residents may be located.
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Which neighborhoods have lost access, electricity, water or communications.
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Where immediate medical or life-safety concerns exist.
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What equipment, skills and transportation resources may be available locally.
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Which needs have already been addressed and which remain unmet.
Trying to collect this information for the first time after a hurricane would create confusion and delay. Cellular service may be unavailable, families may be displaced and emergency responders may not be able to immediately reach every road.
The voluntary neighborhood registry gives residents an opportunity to become familiar with the system before we need it.
Registering does not guarantee assistance and does not replace personal preparedness or official emergency services. It helps us build a better picture of our community, identify potential needs and create a more organized method of communication.
JOIN THE ANAHOLA VOLUNTARY NEIGHBORHOOD REGISTRY
If there is an immediate threat to life or safety, always contact 911 when service is available.
What Participation Means
Participation begins with a simple decision: allowing your household to become part of a more connected and prepared community.
The registry can help us understand where participating households are located and what types of support, concerns, skills or resources may exist within our neighborhoods. As roles, training and procedures are established, this information may help community coordinators identify where welfare checks are needed, consolidate verified reports and communicate unmet needs to the appropriate emergency-management and recovery partners.
This is not about creating a group of untrained residents who place themselves in danger.
Community participation must always operate within clear safety limits. Residents should never enter floodwaters, touch downed electrical lines, enter unstable buildings, perform hazardous debris removal or attempt rescues beyond their training.
Our goal is to develop the training and procedures needed to support safe and useful community actions such as:
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Checking on an assigned neighbor when conditions are safe.
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Reporting blocked roads and visible hazards.
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Confirming that a household has evacuated or is accounted for.
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Identifying urgent medical or accessibility needs.
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Sharing verified public information.
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Helping match available community resources with appropriate needs.
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Communicating local conditions to official response and recovery partners.
Preparing Your Household Helps the Whole Community
The strongest community response begins with households that are prepared to care for themselves.
Every family that has sufficient water, food, medication, sanitation supplies, backup lighting and a communication plan reduces the immediate demand on emergency resources. That allows limited assistance to be directed toward residents who are injured, isolated, medically dependent or unable to prepare without help.
Household preparedness should include more than purchasing supplies. Families should discuss:
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Where they will go if evacuation becomes necessary.
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How they will communicate if cellular service fails.
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Who will check on children, kūpuna or family members living elsewhere.
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How essential medications and medical devices will be maintained.
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How pets and livestock will be protected.
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How electricity, water or propane will be shut off if necessary.
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Which nearby households may need assistance.
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How property and damage will be documented for insurance or disaster assistance.
Preparedness is not fear. It is the confidence that comes from understanding what could happen and deciding what we can do about it now.
From Individual Reports to an Organized Community Response
Social media can help distribute information, but after a disaster it can also become filled with rumors, repeated requests and reports that are difficult to verify.
Our long-term goal is to develop and exercise the following process:
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Residents report their household status and local conditions.
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Neighborhood representatives help verify and organize the information.
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A proposed Anahola Community Action Team helps consolidate priority needs.
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Verified information is communicated to the appropriate government agencies and recovery organizations.
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Official guidance and resource information are shared back with residents.
This system is intended to complement the County of Kauaʻi Pre-Disaster Recovery Framework. That framework recognizes that effective recovery requires community participation, local information and coordination among government, nonprofits, businesses and residents.
ʻĀina Alliance can help create the connection between individual Anahola households and that larger recovery system.
Anahola Is the Starting Point—Not the Boundary
This work begins in Anahola because it is our home and because residents have already helped identify our community’s vulnerabilities, isolation zones and recovery priorities.
But Anahola is not the only Hawaiʻi community that could become isolated after a hurricane.
Across our islands, many communities depend on a single highway, bridge, harbor or utility system. Coastal neighborhoods may face storm surge and flooding. Rural areas may lose access to fuel, food, medical care and communications. Kūpuna, medically dependent residents, farms, livestock and small businesses may need support while emergency resources are stretched across several communities—or several islands—at the same time.
For that reason, we are sharing this work openly as a community pilot.
Residents throughout Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi are invited to follow this series and consider the same questions within their own communities:
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Which roads, bridges or utilities could fail?
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Which neighborhoods could become isolated?
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Where are the safest community gathering and information points?
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Who may need assistance with evacuation, transportation or medical needs?
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What local equipment, skills and communication resources are available?
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Who will collect and verify information after the storm?
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How will community needs be communicated to County emergency-management officials?
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How will verified information return to residents?
The answers will be different for every place. The goal is not to copy Anahola exactly. The goal is to develop a repeatable process that communities can adapt to their own geography, culture, leadership and resources.
As we test the Anahola neighborhood registry, community coordination system and post-disaster procedures, we will share what works, what does not and what we learn along the way.
Communities interested in developing a similar system can begin now by identifying local leaders, mapping potential isolation areas and building relationships with their County emergency-management agency.
EXPLORE THE PREPARE & RECOVER SERIES
Preparing your home protects your family. Preparing your neighborhood strengthens your community. Connecting prepared communities makes Hawaiʻi more resilient.
CONTINUE THE SERIES — ARTICLE 2
Could Your Community Become Isolated After a Disaster?
About This Series
This series is developed by ʻĀina Alliance, with leadership and preparedness perspective contributed by Jeremie Makepa, an Anahola community member who also serves as a Kauaʻi Fire Captain. The views and guidance presented are those of ʻĀina Alliance and do not constitute official communications from the County of Kauaʻi, Kauaʻi Fire Department or Kauaʻi Emergency Management Agency.
The ʻĀina Alliance neighborhood registry and community preparedness activities do not replace 911, Kauaʻi Emergency Management Agency, official evacuation instructions, emergency shelters, police, fire, emergency medical services or other government response agencies. During an emergency, follow all official warnings and instructions.