Transcript
CORALIE MATAYOSHI: So we are actually conducting two operations because Oahu, east Oahu, was also affected, and we actually on Oahu had three destroyed homes, that were completely unliveable, and 26 with major damage, 96 with minor damage, and 38 homes that were affected. And so we have been doing damage assessment and helping them with recovery. On Kaua'i it’s been more precarious the situation. A lot of landslides and flooding and inaccessible areas. Hundreds of people have had to be helicoptered, or evacuated by boat or bus from areas by the coast guard or fire department. And so we had opened about five shelters on Kaua'i since Saturday. We had a little bit of s scary situation on our Honole shelter... Sixty-one people were stranded there for two nights because water was completely surrounding the shelter. The original plan was to have them lifted by helicopter to another shelter, but the weather was so bad that the helicopters are grounded. And so that is why they got stranded, and for a time we ran out of food and water, but were able to get that to them by county ambulance. We were able, the next day, I think that was Monday, we were able to get them out of there by bus and they were able to get to the Kilauea gym where we now have a shelter set up. We did deploy for Oahu volunteers to go to Kaua'i on Monday to help with sheltering and mental health. We also have a nurse, because a lot of people might be missing prescriptions and might need some medical attention, and also a government liaison.
SARA VUI-TALITU: What is the damage assessment to date?
CM: Yeah, on Kaua'i, because the roads are so damaged and the roads are inaccessible, we weren't able to start damage assessment until actually yesterday. And so that is ongoing. Until we figure out how many people we need to help, it is hard to know where to start.
SV: Can you give people an idea of the population affected by this?
CM: You know, I'm not exactly sure but everybody on the north side of Kaua'i has been affected. And this is really unprecedented. Even on the east side of Oahu, it's very unusual. The rain came down fast and furious, and one of the residents on Kaua'i said she'd lived there all her life and it's worse than Hurricane Iniki (the most powerful hurricane to strike the US state of Hawaii in recorded history in 1992). I think it's because it did such underground damage. A lot of the trees fell, and the foundations and the roadways and bridges and everything just collapsed.
SV: So how can people help?
CM: Well we always need funds just to be able to respond. And so people can go to RedCross.org/Hawaii. We've been calling for local volunteers to be trained. It's difficult right now to deploy people that aren't trained, but we always have to be ready for the next disaster. with hurricane season just two months away, we're calling for volunteers, but we also need help with our general operations, because we respond to disasters in Hawaii every four days, and across America it's one every eight minutes. And so there's always... we're vulnerable to the elements, and also man-made fires and explosions, and even nuclear attacks in Hawaii. So we just want people to know that the Red Cross is not a government agency. We're non-profit and we rely on the generosity of people to help us provide critical services to the community.
