Seniors are one of the most vulnerable communities during natural disasters. That’s pushing community members and policymakers to consider kūpuna more in their disaster planning.
This past August, a fire broke out in the forest next to Kahuku Hauoli Hale – an affordable housing community on Oʻahu for seniors and those with disabilities.
Evelyn Lane, who has lived in the housing community for 15 years, was walking her dog when she saw the blaze.
“I turn around and I see flames and smoke coming out of there and the wind is blowing right over to my house and I'm running down the street,” she said.
“I realized we were so vulnerable. And plus I'd been looking at all these hurricanes and fires and seeing that seniors were being left behind.”
Because she lives in independent housing for seniors, there’s no requirement for an evacuation plan or any disaster preparedness standards. But Lane has been through disasters before – she lived in Oakland, California, during the 1991 Tunnel Fire that killed 25 people.
That’s why she completed Community Emergency Response Team training about six months ago. Now she’s trying to encourage her neighbors to be prepared and get the broader community to do more to take care of seniors in the area.
“We've been holding meetings and going door to door and giving people information about the emergencies and come talk to us,” she said. “So we're just gonna keep doing it until people get it.”
AARP Hawaiʻi wants emergency management and policymakers to consider seniors more in their disaster planning.
“They're twice as likely to pass in a disaster,” said AARP Hawaiʻi Director Kealiʻi Lopez.
“It's not because they're old, right, we're talking about people who have mobility issues. People with disabilities, are more likely to perish in a disaster.”
That was the reality for many victims of the 2023 Lahaina wildfires – about 70% of those who died from the fires were over 60 years old.
Lopez explained that AARP Hawaiʻi will soon roll out a template for building managers of senior housing developments to help them come up with emergency plans.
“We see high interest, really in especially the management folks because they're busy trying to work with the tenants, keep the water running, dealing with electricity, dealing with all kinds of issues,” she said.
“So we're gonna offer training on how to use the template, how to work with their own residents in the creation of the plan because that's a best practice.”
AARP Hawaiʻi also hosts disaster preparedness workshops for kūpuna, and has a toolkit on their website for community leaders to consider seniors in their disaster planning.
The state Legislature is also considering resolutions that ask the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency to develop outreach programs to better inform kūpuna about emergency preparedness.
State Sen. Brandon Elefante explained that he introduced the measure because of the conversations and programs he was a part of when he was on the Honolulu City Council.
“I think it's important to have conversations and also come up with some sort of plans. It's important that kūpuna in the event of disasters are informed,” he said.
“That's what the resolution hopes to accomplish, is to really come up with a strategic focus and direction on how to basically reach out, specifically to these certain types of populations.”
Rep. Cory Chun introduced the House resolution. He compared it to being on an airplane.
“Some people just need more time to get settled,” he said. “So in a case of emergency where you may have only minutes, being able to have those preparations and to know what to do in those situations for folks is of the essence – can sometimes be the difference between life or death.”
HI-EMA said community members can participate in the Hawaiʻi Hazards Awareness and Resilience Program, which has some training on identifying vulnerabilities to protect kūpuna.
