DEPARTMENT OF
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Make a Plan

Creating your Family Emergency Plan starts with a straightforward question: "What If?"

"What if something happens and I'm not with my family?" "Will I be able to reach them?" "How will I know they are safe?" "How can I let them know I'm OK?"

It would be best to stay connected to your family during a disaster, even when regular communication networks are down. Your family emergency plan should include an off-island contact, primary and secondary meeting places, and a list of emergency contacts.

Create Your Family Emergency Plan

Your family may not be together if a disaster strikes, so knowing how you'll contact one another and reconnect if separated is essential. Establish a family meeting place that's familiar and easy to find. 

Following a disaster, one of the most stressful situations is being separated from your family, unable to communicate with them, and not knowing how they are. Although on-island telephone service may be disrupted after a disaster, often long-distance communication lines remain operational.

Ensure your disaster plan identifies an off-island contact, a friend, or a family member. Your off-island contact may be better positioned to communicate among separated family members. Following an emergency or disaster, each family member will call or text the contact and let them know where they are and that they are safe.

Make disaster planning fun! Disaster planning doesn't have to be stressful. It can include throwing a neighborhood block party to meet your neighbors, camping to experience living with no power and running water, and attending exciting training programs with your family.

See this template Hawaii Emergency Management Agency provided to complete your family emergency plan today! 

Filling out this Family Emergency Plan is the first step; ensure you exercise your plan with your family, and everyone knows the content.  

Specialize Your Plan for You and Your Family

As you prepare, tailor your plans and 14-Day Disaster Supply Kit to your daily living needs and responsibilities. Create your personal network for specific areas where you need assistance. Keep in mind some of these factors when developing your plan:

• Different ages of members within your household

• Responsibilities for assisting others

• Locations frequented

• Dietary needs

• Medical needs, including prescriptions and equipment

• Disabilities or access and functional needs, including devices and equipment

• Languages spoken

• Cultural and religious considerations

• Pets or service animals

• Households with school-aged children

• View our special considerations for hurricane planning. 

Consider The Effects Of Supply Chain Interruptions

The Hawaiian Islands are the world's most isolated populated landmass, located 2,500 miles across the Pacific Ocean from the western coast of the continental United States. Hawai'i also heavily depends on food and materials brought in by air transit or ocean freight to meet our daily needs. Under normal conditions, our market food supply is replenished every 5-8 days, with most commercial warehouses maintaining a five-day supply of food in inventory. The City's 2021 Multi-Hazard Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan risk assessment noted that Honolulu Harbor and Honolulu International Airport were both highly vulnerable to the effects of hurricane winds and storm surge. In the aftermath of a destructive hurricane, it could take up to 19 days or longer to open our harbors and as long as two weeks before normal air operations could resume. The impacts on these critical cargo and freight facilities will highly affect our community and our state's ability to recover. Read the 2021 Multi-Hazard Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan report here https://www.resilientoahu.org/hazard-mitigation-plan

Do I Need to Shelter-in-Place or Evacuate?

The onset of a disaster can be confusing and chaotic. Therefore, making as many decisions as possible ahead of time is crucial. Knowing what hazards your home or community is vulnerable to can help you decide whether you will evacuate or shelter in place when a disaster strikes your area.
Other hazards, such as flooding or brushfires, may occur suddenly with little warning that may require you to evacuate suddenly. Emergency officials will announce areas that need to evacuate and where public shelters are opening.

For a Hurricane

Sheltering in place options:

At home

If you live in a home, consider sheltering-in-place if your home meets all of these criteria:

• Was built in 1995 or retrofitted to withstand hurricane-force winds
• It is located outside of a storm surge hazard area
• You have protected windows, access to an interior room with no windows or exterior walls, and enough space for all family members, pets, and emergency supplies.

In a condo

For high-rise condo or apartment dwellers, consider sheltering-in-place if all of the following conditions are met:

• You have protected windows OR access to an interior room with no windows or exterior walls and enough space for all family members, pets, and emergency supplies to shelter in place.
• You can survive without electricity and can climb up and down stairs to receive emergency information post-storm
• If your high-rise condominium is within the storm surge hazard area, you may shelter in place if you live on or have access to the 4th floor or above.

If you cannot meet the above conditions, you must make evacuation plans and know your options. Please remember that at this moment, the storm is the most immediate threat to your safety. Although the risk of contracting COVID-19 is still prevalent within our community, staying in your unsafe home poses a greater danger to your life. Please consider evacuating to friends or family first and, as a last resort, a hurricane evacuation shelter.

Evacuation options:

Evacuating to the home of friends or family