Managing for Climate Change Committee (MC3) Webinar 

Are You Prepared For Disasters?

By Rachel Fukumoto, Chair of MC3

As global populations prepare for the effects of climate change, our local community is working to do so as well. In recent years we have already experienced the symptoms of climate change, including sea-level rise, erosion, extreme flooding and an increase in hurricanes and tropical storms, amongst other events. On November 4, 2020, the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce with the Managing for Climate Change Committee (MC3) presented, “Are You Prepared For Disasters” a Zoom webinar, providing HJCC and Quad Chamber members with information on how to prepare for the increase of catastrophic events.

The panel featured Ka‘iulani “Lani” Shinsato (Director of Customer Energy Resources Programs at Hawaiian Electric Company) and Dennis Hwang (Coastal Hazard Mitigation Specialist at the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program), moderated by Brian Kealoha (Executive Director at Hawai‘i Energy). Lani’s valuable insights to Hawaiian Electric’s community and infrastructure preparedness and risk reduction measures, alongside Dennis’ tangible action items that families can take to plan for disasters and strengthen or retrofit homes were among the gems that were shared throughout the webinar. Attendees also learned of immediate resources that they could access such as Hawaiian Electric’s O‘ahu Outage Map and the Homeowner’s Handbook To Prepare for Natural Hazards co-authored by Dennis Hwang.

The MC3 would like to extend a big thank you to Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI) and Hawaiian Electric for sponsoring this event.