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Maui Preparedness w FRED RUGE Jason host at Costco on Maui
Summary & transcript
Hurricane and Tsunami Preparedness
[00:34 → 02:54] Introduction and Costco Emergency Preparedness Supplies
- Robert Morales, Assistant Warehouse Manager at Costco, introduces the second annual hurricane and tsunami preparedness awareness event held at Costco.
- The event runs throughout June and aims to educate the public about emergency needs.
- Top emergency preparedness products at Costco include:
- Bottled water (most popular item)
- Batteries
- Flashlights
- First aid kits
- Food with long shelf life (canned goods, non-perishables)
- Generators (e.g., 5000-watt generators)
- Morales emphasizes the importance of being prepared even if no major emergency occurred the previous year.
- Costco actively supports community emergency preparedness awareness and encourages stocking up on essentials.
[02:54 → 14:25] Maui Electric and Renewable Energy Initiatives with Captain Electron
- Maui Electric participates in the event with a mascot, Captain Electron, designed to educate the community on energy savings and electrical awareness.
- Captain Electron appears in parades, schools, and community eventsto promote energy conservation.
- Maui Electric pushes for greater use of renewable energy, especially solar and wind power.
- A rebate program ($1,000 rebate to contractors plus a 35% state tax credit) incentivizes solar installations.
- Jamie Lou, DSM Supervisor at Maui Electric, shares key data:
- Solar hot water systems can save about 30% on utility bills.
- About 600 solar hot water installations occur annually on Maui, totaling over 2,000 in three years.
- Maui Electric partners with home builders (3D Builders, Bezel, Steel Frame Homes) to include solar hot water in new homes.
- Solar hot water contributes to qualifying homes as EPA Energy Star homes, allowing for better financing options.
- Mortgage lenders may increase loan-to-value ratios or offer discounts (around $500) for homes with solar hot water systems.
- Maui Electric emphasizes the importance of renewable energy adoption to reduce energy consumption growth and delay new power plant construction.
- Other efficiency programs include rebates for efficient electric water heaters, commercial lighting, motors, and air conditioning equipment.
- Captain Electron is planned to be a visible educational figure in Maui, with community members volunteering to wear the mascot costume.
[14:25 → 23:16] American Red Cross Hurricane Preparedness with D Brown
- D Brown, Chair of Disaster Services for the American Red Cross, stresses the importance of personal hurricane preparedness as hurricane season starts June 1.
- Common misconception addressed: Shelters do not provide food, water, or cots; evacuees must bring their own supplies.
- Recommended preparations for shelter include:
- Minimum of 3 to 5 days worth of food, water, and medications for all family members.
- Non-perishable, ready-to-eat foods (Spam, Vienna sausages, canned veggies).
- A non-electric can opener.
- Medication stockpiles are critical because pharmacies may be closed post-disaster.
- Pets are generally not allowed in shelters unless registered seeing-eye dogs; pet owners must make arrangements with the Humane Society for boarding.
- The Humane Society coordinates volunteer foster homes to temporarily house animals during hurricanes.
- The Red Cross has no large stockpiles of food, water, or cots due to funding and storage challenges caused by Maui’s humid climate.
- The community must understand that self-preparedness is critical, as relief efforts may take 3–5 days to arrive.
- D Brown recounts that Maui has been fortunate in recent decades to avoid direct hurricane hits but warns complacency is dangerous.
- Hurricane Aniki (1992) passed by Maui causing minor damage but hit Kauai severely.
- The Red Cross encourages the public to heed preparedness advice and take responsibility for their own safety.
[23:53 → 29:46] Maui Civil Defense Emergency Procedures with Kyle Watkinabi
- Kyle Watanabe, Administrator for Maui Civil Defense, explains the use of sirens during emergencies:
- Sirens alert the public to turn on their radios for official emergency broadcasts.
- Same siren tone used for different emergencies (tsunami, hurricane).
- Maui Civil Defense urges residents to consult the disaster preparedness section in local telephone books which contain:
- Emergency plans
- Survival kit checklists
- Civil Defense emphasizes self-preparedness as the first line of defense; government and relief agencies will take time to respond after a disaster.
- The Emergency Operating Center (EOC):
- Is activated during major emergencies.
- Coordinates all county departments and agencies including police, fire, public works, Red Cross, airports, utilities, etc.
- Uses standard procedures and checklists during watches, warnings, and disaster phases.
- Watkinabi encourages residents to always have a personal and family emergency plan.
- The “Be Prepared” motto from Boy Scouts is highlighted as a model for everyone.
Key Insights and Conclusions
- Community preparedness is a shared responsibility: Individuals and families must stock emergency supplies, have plans, and understand shelter limitations.
- Emergency supplies should include water, food, medications, flashlights, batteries, first aid kits, and, if possible, generators.
- Maui Electric’s renewable energy programs, especially solar hot water heating, are key strategies for reducing energy demand and environmental impact.
- Partnerships between utilities, home builders, and government agencies promote sustainable energy and disaster resilience.
- The American Red Cross cannot provide immediate mass shelter supplies; they facilitate coordination but emphasize self-sufficiency.
- Civil Defense provides critical communication and coordination, but community members must proactively prepare before disasters strike.
- Public education efforts via mascots like Captain Electron and community events help raise awareness and promote behavioral change.
- The combination of preparedness education, renewable energy adoption, and community coordination forms a comprehensive approach to disaster readiness on Maui.
Timeline Table of Key Events/Programs Discussed
| Timestamp | Event/Topic | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 00:34 | Costco preparedness event introduction | Focus on emergency supplies like water, batteries, and generators |
| 02:54 | Maui Electric’s Captain Electron launch | Mascot promotes energy savings & electrical awareness in schools and community |
| 05:53 | Solar hot water program overview | Saves 30% of utility bills; 600 installations/year; new home builder partnerships |
| 14:25 | American Red Cross hurricane preparedness | Emphasizes self-preparedness; shelters don’t provide food/water; pet sheltering limitations |
| 23:53 | Maui Civil Defense emergency procedures | Sirens prompt radio info; EOC coordinates multi-agency response; residents urged to prepare |
Quantitative Data Table
| Program/Item | Data / Statistic | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Solar hot water savings | ~30% reduction in utility bills | Significant impact on home energy costs |
| Solar hot water installations | ~600 per year; >2,000 total in 3 years | Program growing, but still room for more |
| Mortgage incentive discount | ~$500 off mortgage for solar hot water homes | Plus rebates and tax credits |
| Hurricane shelter preparedness | 3 to 5 days of food, water, meds needed | Shelters provide space only, no supplies |
| Maui Civil Defense phone number | 270-7285 | For emergency preparedness info |
Transcript
00:34
aloha we’re now here with robert morales robert is the assistant warehouse manager here at costco hi hello huh and welcome to costco we’re here to present with a awareness show for hurricane and tsunami preparedness it’s a good opportunity the emergency awareness basically will start in june first through the month through june 30th this is a good opportunity to become aware of what the needs are for in case of an emergency i’m really glad that you do this show you know this is the second year that you’ve been hosting
01:11
this kind of show and i still have a little extra water because i don’t think we had an emergency last year of major consequence but i’m happy to have bottled water i don’t yet have a generator do you ever i guess all you in apartments don’t really need a generator this week but how about a first aid kit um what has been the big sellers that you’ve seen when people are buying for emergencies do you know well it’s always going to be bottled water that’s always good to have handy
01:42
batteries flashlights first aid kits and you know to protect your foods even a generator something like this 5000 watt generator it’s always good to be prepared for any type of emergency well you know what i’d really like to have is my television and my vcr and my generator but i don’t think that’s probably the most logical thing to have but um you have all kinds of food things and things that can really last even uh you know without an emergency you can always sneak in and get the good
02:16
stuff out of the secret supplies that’s how he’s correct yes and i think i do a good part on my job i always hold any type of canned foods things that have a long shelf life that’s always handy to have around well costco has really been very active in our community and we’re really very happy that you decided to do this this year again thank you for having us thank you and aloha hello captain electron he’s everywhere that guy we’re going to find out more about captain electron
02:54
and see what things maui electric has for us so that we can be prepared in case of an emergency well it looks like on the tv here at the maui electric booth is our show from last year so uh no this is not a mirage that is us here at costco this is the second annual hurricane preparedness hurricane and tsunami preparedness show in fact uh why don’t we get together and uh have some conversation with the folks here at maui electric [Laughter] welcome this is uh a maui electric booth we’re here with captain electron who’s
03:44
captain electron well captain electron is our new company mascot and what we’re doing is we’re using him to spread the word about energy savings and electrical awareness tips throughout the schools and through the county so you’re going to see him in the parades he’ll be in the county parade this year he’ll be in the schools we’ll do a lot of education through the community with him so we’d like you to have a magnet with message on it to be prepared against disaster barbara i am just really thrilled that
04:13
maui electron is maui electron maui electron captain electron captain electron yeah where did he come from uh we designed them in-house we came up with an idea that would be a character that would be recognized as a firm reliable source of power and that’s where the electron message came from firm reliable source of power that’s another subject no don’t go there and we also created two other characters you can see on the button here but general nrg which stands for solar energy um we
04:46
really are um pushing the use of solar for people to use solar and wind yeah you guys still have that program don’t you a thousand dollar i guess it’s sort of a rebate it goes to the contractor and then the balance people still get a 35 state tax credit right and for details on that um i have brochures in here and also jamie our dsm supervisor yeah we’ll get him on screen but i think he knows you’re doing a good job and he knows i like girls better so maui electric has been really a very
05:21
strong proponent of renewable energy for a few years you know i’d like to see more solar in the mix but i understand their need for firm power and until the public is willing to pay the extra freight to do that um i’m really glad there’s a solar water heating program what what do you guys estimate maybe forty percent of the utility bill is for water heating um let me get jamie to answer jamie come on over here i’m gonna make sure you can answer this is jamie lou come on in there we go
05:53
he gets the statistics right uh how are you doing jason what was the question the question was about how much of the utility bill is for water heating uh most people can save about 30 percent of their utility bill when they actually go to solar hot water and that’s obviously why we’re promoting it for the opportunity that the customers have as well as the impact that it has for the utility and i know that some people have put it in in fact a lot of people have put it in over the years here on maui but a lot
06:31
more still could do it do you have any statistics of of uh quote how things are going with the program well the program’s uh very active uh typically promotes about 600 installations a year for about over 2 000 in the last three years a drop in the bucket compared to what you all could be doing yeah what we’re looking at now of course is uh trying to get into the new home market we’ve started a program with three different uh builders have joined up to commit to always putting solar hot water
07:02
on the new homes that they built i think we should share who they are i know we have uh 3d builders and bezel who’s the third steel frame homes joined last but 3d of course started the program with us and the bets will join and now steel frame homes the epa has an energy star home program which since the solar hot water saves 30 percent of your energy bill it qualifies as an energy star home and that allows for opportunities for better financing and obviously recognizes the reality that if you build
07:35
a new home with solar hot water on it it’s considerably less expensive to live in now i’m in the real estate and mortgage business and i know that lenders will increase the potential loan to value by the value of the solar system so nothing is lost in fact a lot is gained and your real cost of living goes down i think it’s a terrific program i’m glad that it’s still here i thought it might go away and people wouldn’t have that opportunity oh no we’re very enthusiastic about the
08:36
when you put in the solar hot water well i’m gonna make a bid right now i’m the third lender really oh we’ll be happy to give a discount of people who put solar water heating on their homes typically it’s about a 500 discount so that uh you know between that and the rebate and then of course the tax savings uh unbeatable yeah it’s hard to see why people wouldn’t do it now what i want to see is more of you doing it out there and uh what i think is most significant is that we’re in a place where the sun
09:08
shines all the time and if you don’t do it you must realize because maui electric actually petitions the public utilities commission this goes into your rates that means you are paying for it whether you put it on your home or not so get to it yeah of course that’s right huh well we want to see everybody participate and everybody that participates of course benefits that’s the point so let’s see you participating and um uh are you doing any shows do you have any live captain electron planned
09:42
i haven’t seen any yet that’s really barbara’s uh plan we’ll have to get barbara to be captain electron yeah well we’re trying to pick who’s going to run around with this suit on right that’s right with sort of a green santa claus well we hope that the people of maui start to you know 600 installations a year is fine and i’m sure that you’re happy with the numbers but i am as a citizen i’m not happy with the numbers because i know with all the griping that people do
10:13
about building of new power plants if we all did what we could do to reduce our energy consumption through renewables like solar we would slow the growth of those power plants which maui electro could be fine with i’m sure yeah the advantage of the solar hot water heating is that it takes the energy from the sun and applies it to the evening peak and that’s that’s why it’s significant now you also have programs for uh commercial lighting and other kind of programs with incentives as well
10:43
don’t you yeah we have a whole range of customer efficiency programs the other residential program of course is still with the water heating you can get right here at costco you can get the efficient electric water heaters and in fact get a rebate from maui electric for that the commercial programs involve lighting and motors and air conditioning and we’re very active in terms of getting both equipment changed out as well as making sure the new construction involves the most efficient equipment available i
11:16
also know that uh i imagine you may be still involved at our kaku maui community television are you uh well i’m not not as organizationally just as a user i guess but a user i hate that word user but here we are yeah user of the user of the channel and i’m still involved in terms of i know all the people and it’s a good organization it is well i am really happy to have spent this time with you and i hope that all you people out there take heed you know part of being prepared is having your own system that
11:47
runs by itself if maui electric goes off wouldn’t it be nice to know you still have hot water to take a shower you know the water comes to you because it’s on pressure but if you can’t eat your water it’d be nice to be heating it with solar one of those small benefits even if you’re in an emergency uh jamie thank you really i appreciate it anything else that you’d like to add that you’d like to tell the public well i was going to mention that the mayor kimo apana gave a proclamation about a month ago
12:14
recognizing the energy star program with the epa and with maui electric and with the three builders that we mentioned 3d and bezel and steel frame homes and you can watch that program on our cocoon every now and then runs a couple times a week right now to actually see the mayor make the proclamation and uh the mayor made an interesting comment that he had decided not to put solar hot water on his new home and he learned five years later that he would have actually saved a lot of money if he had done that
12:41
and he could have had all the things he wanted in his home as well as the solar hot water well let me tell you mr panna mayor uponna it is not too late solar is always the appropriate choice at any point and uh he has put solar on his home now okay you’re off the hook but not the rest of you thank you for uh being here with us thank you aloha thank you and aloha barbara thank you jason for the big support on solar we love it solar’s been my baby since the beginning i you may not know that
13:21
i came here in 1988 with the full intention of doing a large project involving all the hotels and solar involving electricity and hot water but i guess you’d say i was ahead of my time people tell me i was the runway that other planes have now been flying on i sort of felt like a runway i must tell you a little run over but i’m happy to uh to be there as the public starts to get the picture that renewable technologies will work get there and get the support that’s great i was talking to jamie
13:59
what do you think are we going to have captain elektron coming out and visiting all right we’re going to have him all over the place he’s going to be a busy guy are you going to who’s going to be captain electron have you figured out yet bill bonnett well he said he’d wear the yellow tights he offered oh that’s a good choice we have a lot of people that are really supportive of the program and we really want to get the message out make it fun and educational for people thank you for the intro
14:25
it’s my great pleasure i want everyone to know that we’re here at costco for the second annual hurricane preparedness show and we had the red cross and now maui electric let’s see who else is here aloha i’m here with d brown of the american red cross aloha d aloha jason it’s uh really good to see you here again it’s good to see you again you know you are the always everywhere volunteer i must tell you that our community is a much better place because of all the hard work that
15:13
that you’ve been doing for seems like forever please don’t leave us there’s still too much that needs to be done that’s true so why are you here today well today i’m here as chair of disaster services for the american red cross i’m here today because hurricane season starts june 1st and so i’m here to press out brochures and to talk with people and let them know what they need to do to be prepared for hurricane season so give us uh some examples if you can be okay well a good thing that i’m trying to get
15:51
across to people is many people in watching television have gotten the concept that if they are evacuated to a shelter that they’re going to be fed there’s going to be coffee food water everything that they want cots to sleep on you mean that’s not true it’s not like the grand wailea that is not true most of the shelters are at the public schools and so any if you are evacuated to go to a shelter you need to be prepared to have sufficient food water medications for your yourself and your family for a
16:28
minimum of three days preferably five days i guess that’s because if an emergency happens until relief can get here we’re on our own huh that’s exactly it because it would take three to five days depending on how extensive the damage is for national red cross to be able to start helping by shipping in food and food and water and things on that line so do we keep any uh reserves here at the american red cross some i guess not really we had attempted in years past to reserve uh to have us cots
17:05
available but with the american red cross services are available to anyone to anyone our door is never closed therefore if we provide a cot for one person we must provide a cot for every person consequently in years past we did start trying to put up a reserve of cots but the problem that we ran into was that the type of weather and humidity and everything that we have here they deteriorated so there’s no way that it can be stopped there’s no way that things could be stockpiled like that
17:41
the same thing with food food and water the red cross on the chapter level does not have the funding available to tr uh well in maui county we’re looking at over a hundred thousand people so there’s no way again that we would be able to furnish food and water to over a hundred thousand people so i think it’s critical that the public understand you have to realize that you have to be prepared american red cross will bring extra help and help coordinate a lot of the help but you need to prepare and have things
18:18
ready for your family and if you have extra good you can help others um what kind of things should people be gathering together from your experience dee well bottled water of course then they should also be looking at non-perishable food things that can be eaten directly from the can spam vienna sausages green beans anything that does not require cooking make sure you pack a non-electric can opener the other thing you need to make sure of also is medications because if there’s a major disaster
18:54
there won’t be any place to go down and get get it and pick it up so you’ve got to make sure that you have a minimum of five days worth of medication if you have a pet you want to make sure that that we cannot unfortunately unless it is a seeing eye animal on a registered seeing eye animal uh dog we cannot let that animal in the shelter uh if you do not make plans for them ahead of time with the humane society then unfortunately your pets will have to stay in your vehicle parked in the parking lot or parked
19:29
wherever it might be well that’s a big one i guess uh some people they think of their animals as their children but so be it but they can make arrangements with the humane society yes there’s a uh they can contact the humane society my understanding the way the program works is that with a hurricane fortunately you do have time a few days to begin preparing for it my understanding the humane society will board out in a sense they have volunteers that the animals that they have currently in the shelter for
20:05
adoption will be boarded out to families that have the facilities to keep them that way freeing up the shelter itself for people to bring in their pets for safety during a storm that’s great so you have a full display here of pictures of disaster how fun has there been an experience of hurricanes on maui that the red cross has helped or just general i’ve seen you out after fires and all kinds of different emergencies we’ve been very fortunate that in anybody’s recent memory we have been spared we have been spared
20:45
the unpleasantness if you want to say of having her having been hit by a hurricane in 92 hurricane aniki did fortunately bypass us but hit kauai we maui sustained beach erosion boats being damaged but fortunate and some high winds but minimal amount of damage wasn’t there a flood in k and i in the 40s i guess that’s we were all children at that time or i wasn’t even a children child i’m with you i don’t think i was even a glimmer in anyone’s eye at that point so what you’re saying is that maybe
21:24
because we’ve been so uh unhit by some of these problems we take it all very lightly and so that’s very true i find it at a display like this in talking with people there when i ask them if they are prepared for hurricane season a response that i get a lot of is oh i’ve lived here for 20 years we’ve never given hit by a hurricane but that’s not saying that we won’t a year and a half ago towards the end of the season hurricane season of 98 we had two hurricanes that at one point
22:03
were headed directly for maui fortunately they changed course they went lower and the big island sustained some wind and water damage but that was all the damage the hawaiian islands sustained but had those two hurricanes one right behind the other had they continued on their initial course they would have touched lan on maui well you really do important work like i say i see d brown everywhere you probably see d brown everywhere and uh this year like every year i know you’re going to be in the
22:40
political realms i hope people will take a look and take a look at dee brown she’s a wonderful lady who’s done so much help and i hope that all of you will also take her wisdom here and prepare so that god forbid some kind of emergency happens you will be prepared thank you dee brown thank you very much jason it’s a pleasure always to see you always a pleasure to see you your face is out there constantly too that’s how we keep seeing each other well you know i i gotta tell you it’s
23:16
always really a pleasure to see you you’re always a smiling face you know you’re the kind of face that if there was a disaster it’s really nice to know that you have that warm and loving heart to be there for people well i do i’ve been told i’ve been told and i have to kind of agree i’ve got a head for business but i’ve got a heart for the people well it’s it’s our blessing thank you aloha we’re going to be repeating our segment with maui civil defense that was on last
23:53
year when you see the guy that looks like me and he doesn’t have a big white beard that’s my younger brother you’ll notice him so that’s good information and really nothing has changed in that regard so um you’re gonna say i think i saw this show but no it was just the segment from last year from the civil defense aloha [Music] aloha i’m here with kyle watkinabi aloha hi nice to meet you kyle is the administrator for the civil defense for the county of maui in case there’s an emergency i imagine
24:43
we’re going to hear some sirens from you guys right yeah correct depending on the situation on a tsunami warning or a hurricane warning you definitely hear silence are there different kinds of silence for different kinds of emergencies oh no the sirens are basically used to notify the public to turn on the radio so anytime you hear the siren that’s an indication and that’s the signal for you to turn on your radio when we sound the sirens that’s when you’ll hear a message over the radio
25:10
saying why we’re sounding excitement in the case of a tsunami and tsunami warning or hurricane or hurricane okay are there any things that the people of maui need to know as their first line of defense that they can do to be prepared so that when you come to a situation you know that they’ve done at least the minimum of what they need to do oh yes definitely um you know right now we’re in the hurricane season hurricane season runs from june to november and we’re stressing hurricane
25:39
preparedness one of the first things we ask people to do is to look in the telephone book in the front pages of the telephone book there’s this section on disaster preparedness and disaster information um if you need that type of information it’s already in the telephone book and they’re very concise it tells you how to put together a simple plan and also some other things you need in your survival kit if you need additional information you can call us here at civil defense and we have quite a number of booklets
26:07
and brochures that you need what’s the phone number here okay the phone number of our civil defense is 270-7285 270-7285 that’s a different exchange that i’m used to but you guys will remember that write it down right now 2-7-0 [Music] 7285 and also open up your telephone book because well you know i’ve been speaking to different agencies yours included and if there is a disaster the thing that’s most important is that we shouldn’t be relying on civil defense to have all our answers for us if
26:44
there’s a tsunami and part of the island is hit or there’s a hurricane those that aren’t hit and the things they’ve prepared will help those that don’t have anything left so don’t think and i like to stress that that being prepared for an emergency is important civil defense is there through our dollars to support us and we have to learn to be prepared ourselves as well correct good message right i like that message we’re always stressing uh you know personal preparation and family planning
27:18
as part of you know your activities when you’re doing these type of things for any type of disaster or imprint uh impending situation that’s the key you have to be self-prepared you have to take care of yourself because it’ll take a while before government or the other organizations be able to respond to you after a major disaster yeah you know in any disaster we don’t know what scope that disaster will take so i think it’s a good idea for all of us to be ready for this emergency and hope we never have to
27:48
deal with it when you do get into action what exactly do you guys do okay uh well what we’re standing here right now is what we call our emergency operating center uh once we get to that situation where it’s it’s a major situation what we do is we call we activate our eoc the eoc again is the emergency operating center what that means is we have the various representatives from the various departments such as police fire public works highways red cross even the airports people hawaiian
28:21
electric hawaiian telephone they come into this room here and then what we do is we sit down and we explain the situation to them in the case of a hurricane if it’s there’s an impending hurricane out there we give them updates as far as what’s happening with the hurricane what’s its tracks and what’s the expected forecast from there when we activate our eoc is that when we start to work on the various problems or issues that come up as we go through the various stages from the watch to a
28:47
warning to the actual disaster itself so when we activate our eoc we have quite a number of people sitting in here working on their problems and situations one of the first things that they need to do is follow their process procedures and checklists all the departments and organizations have this uh checklist and procedures and they go through it one step at a time so when we activate we all sit in the air and we just do quite quite a number of things until the disaster actually hits us okay is there anything that you’d like
29:19
to tell the people directly to make sure that they’re ready or is there a message that you’d like to deliver that can make your job easier when you serve them okay well you know i thought about it many times and we asked people to make their own personal preparation plans and their own family planning and you know i guess the boy scout model was it is be prepared and you know in disaster situations and we don’t know when anything’s going to happen so we always ask people to always be
29:46
prepared and you know do their preparations and you know again go back to the telephone book and look in there for further information thank you very much for sharing with all of us kyle it’s been a pleasure aloha you
