Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Molly Pierce from the Dept. of Emergency Management on Kona Low recovery

Transcript

Molly Pierce from the Dept. of Emergency Management on Kona Low recovery · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:14
  Welcome to the One Oah podcast.
• 0:16
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and today is Thursday, April 2nd, 2026.
• 0:21
  We're sitting down this week with Molly Pierce
• 0:23
  public information officer for the city's Department of Emergency Management.
• 0:27
  While your department is busy right now.
• 0:29
  Oh, yeah.
• 0:30
  Yeah, we are quite busy right now. Yeah.
• 0:33
  And we know that much
• 0:34
  of the island continues to clean up from the recent Kona.
• 0:37
  Little storm.
• 0:38
  But it might not always be clear to to folks listening.
• 0:42
  What is the function of your department?
• 0:43
  What are you folks on right now?
• 0:45
  Yeah.
• 0:45
  So emergency management is essentially the conductor of the orchestra
• 0:50
  for all of the elements that come together to make up,
• 0:55
  the immediate response and, and recovery from,
• 0:59
  emergency situations, flooding,
• 1:02
  wildfires, or really anything that requires what we like to call
• 1:07
  non-routine coordination between city agencies.
• 1:11
  And so in some ways, we're just professional cat herders, really.
• 1:15
  We're the ones who have the plan.
• 1:17
  We're the ones who know who has the resources,
• 1:20
  and we work to action that and make sure that everyone who does the actual
• 1:26
  bulldozing or first response or whatever it may be, that they have the resources,
• 1:30
  they and information that they need to put those plans into action.
• 1:36
  And as you're putting these
• 1:37
  pieces into place, one of them is information.
• 1:40
  And this podcast, I know that you were with me.
• 1:42
  This podcast got its name because when we first launched it
• 1:45
  three years ago, its original home was on one Oahu morgue.
• 1:48
  But can you talk about the genesis of that website,
• 1:51
  kind of its transformations and what it's being used for right now?
• 1:54
  Yeah.
• 1:55
  So one oahu.org, we're bringing it back.
• 1:58
  That is the city's information hub.
• 2:01
  When we have one of these larger response and recovery operations.
• 2:06
  And so, for folks that may remember, this is the place where we put
• 2:10
  all of the Covid, recovery information when people had to find the answers
• 2:16
  to a lot of rapidly changing rules and questions that they had.
• 2:22
  We put together at that time a resource where people
• 2:24
  could find that information, and, and know that there was a one
• 2:28
  stop shop where they could get answers, they to those questions about what
• 2:32
  the city was doing, what the rules were, what the response was.
• 2:37
  And in this situation, we know that there are so many moving pieces
• 2:41
  that it's a similar type of response from an information perspective,
• 2:45
  where we need to give people one place they can go, and we,
• 2:50
  we wanted to build that singular place, for information, but also because it, it,
• 2:57
  it reinforces the idea that we are one unit,
• 3:01
  emergency management services, that conductor.
• 3:05
  But it's all those pieces coming together.
• 3:06
  So this isn't a place just for emergency management information.
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  It's not even just a place for city information.
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  It's a place where you can get
• 3:14
  a lot of connection to resources, answers to questions.
• 3:18
  But also it's an access point to services that folks might need.
• 3:23
  And so if you're looking for anything from housing
• 3:26
  to food resources to information about the city's in-person
• 3:29
  community assistance center, all of that can be found in one place.
• 3:33
  And then you can you can travel out either physically or digitally out
• 3:38
  to those various resources from one endpoint.
• 3:42
  And so when you're going through the creation of this
• 3:45
  or I guess the transformation,
• 3:46
  because we've used this website before, it's not a full recreate.
• 3:48
  But what kind of questions are you trying to answer?
• 3:51
  What are you seeing the most of.
• 3:52
  What are people asking you.
• 3:54
  Yeah. So people are really asking us
• 3:58
  what does tomorrow look like?
• 4:00
  They're trying to find out not what is going to happen
• 4:04
  in three months, but what they can expect tomorrow.
• 4:06
  And so the questions we're really trying to answer are how do you stay safe?
• 4:11
  What do you do in terms of health and safety?
• 4:13
  In in immediate response to a flood?
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  What to look out for in terms of potential infections,
• 4:19
  from being exposed to flood water, how to get resources?
• 4:23
  A lot of folks we're talking to
• 4:25
  a lot of people who are asking questions at that in-person community
• 4:28
  assistance center that's really helping inform what information we put out.
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  And a lot of the questions are,
• 4:35
  who do I call to get a replacement driver's license?
• 4:39
  Who do I call to get food assistance?
• 4:42
  And so we're trying to put all that under one
• 4:46
  metaphorical digital
• 4:47
  roof, but also under one physical roof with the Community Assistance Center.
• 4:51
  So these are really hand in hand, a hand
• 4:54
  in hand effort to get people
• 4:57
  as close to a one stop shop as can be found, and is as quick
• 5:02
  an experience to getting assistance as we can provide from the city.
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  And we know that that means bringing in partners beyond just the city.
• 5:10
  And so that's why we've really added those resources in
• 5:13
  because we know that's what people really need, emergent
• 5:17
  in an emergent way, in that urgent first touch sense,
• 5:20
  we need to provide people with the basics food,
• 5:24
  water, shelter, and then a plan and what they can do to rebuild.
• 5:29
  And then that's where we have anything from permit information
• 5:33
  to how to file insurance claims, to
• 5:37
  what you what you might be able to do about your property taxes.
• 5:40
  We're really trying to give people a way to stop
• 5:44
  searching and start finding if that makes sense.
• 5:47
  Yeah, and I like to I'm going to tell on that.
• 5:49
  I like that you said that. Right.
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  So maybe folks are trying to get some property tax relief
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  or trying to find ways where they can help with their damage assessments, the
• 5:58
  the Community Assistance Center or the CIC,
• 6:00
  they could head there for physical health.
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  They can physically talk to somebody.
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  And then like you said, if maybe you lost your driver's license,
• 6:05
  things like that that are associated often with disasters.
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  But for those who aren't familiar, what's the difference between
• 6:10
  a community assistance center
• 6:12
  like the one we've set up or like a resource hub where I can go get,
• 6:15
  you know, a bottle of water and food and supplies to clean my house.
• 6:19
  Yeah. So those a they go hand in hand.
• 6:22
  And this is something that is really beautiful about community,
• 6:26
  where we see hubs pop up in the in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
• 6:31
  And that's where you can get physical supplies, you can get
• 6:36
  cleaning supplies, you can get water, you can get a hot meal, you can get,
• 6:41
  you know, a shoulder to cry on, a neighbor who knows you.
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  And that's so valuable.
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  And so what we do with our community assistance centers is we try to bring
• 6:52
  all the rest.
• 6:53
  And so from, from that, it's, it's helping people replace vital documents.
• 6:58
  It's it's the beginning of the recovery.
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  I think those hubs, a lot of times they're, they're active response.
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  They're, they're folks who are coming together to do things
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  that are sometimes they're hard for government to do really quickly
• 7:13
  because of all the rules we have around what we can and cannot do.
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  And community knows their community best.
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  We always talk about how emergency response is one of
• 7:24
  the only things that is first
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  and last local, we always look
• 7:31
  to the people in their community to see what resources are needed.
• 7:34
  And so the community assistance Center is bringing in the resources
• 7:39
  to the community that government and larger scale
• 7:42
  nonprofit providers can assist with, to start to fill
• 7:47
  those longer term gaps and in starting the return to normalcy.
• 7:52
  Yeah, and I like that you bring that up because I know people often ask, okay,
• 7:56
  how can I help? You know, everyone always wants to donate.
• 7:59
  Sometimes that's not always the best response.
• 8:01
  I know your heart feels like it, but that's not the immediate response needed.
• 8:05
  Yeah, that's a really hard one to navigate.
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  And everyone's always there
• 8:11
  trying to do what's right, and they're trying to do what's best.
• 8:13
  And it's it's Hawaii people doing what makes Hawaii so special.
• 8:18
  But what we're seeing and this is something that especially as we're moving,
• 8:21
  you know, we're week out, we're continuing longer on we're almost two weeks out,
• 8:26
  from some of the impacts, if you start thinking through
• 8:28
  all the storms we've had in the last, the last few weeks, few months,
• 8:34
  hubs start to get overwhelmed.
• 8:38
  People donate items, but they don't necessarily
• 8:41
  donate the items that are needed.
• 8:43
  And so sometimes it becomes really challenging
• 8:46
  to be able to distribute what's given.
• 8:49
  And so what we always recommend
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  and this is something that we, that we've worked out with the,
• 8:54
  the Hawaii voluntary organizations active in disaster.
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  If you ever hear vo ad, that's what that stands for.
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  Cash is best.
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  They always say cash is king. And it's true.
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  In this situation, these organizations are able to use
• 9:11
  donations, financial donations
• 9:14
  to a much greater extent that you or I could use the same dollar.
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  A dollar given to the Hawaii Food bank buys a lot more food than a dollar.
• 9:23
  If you were.
• 9:23
  I went to food land and tried to purchase something.
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  And so we we tell people, if you can't help physically
• 9:30
  cash, that's
• 9:31
  how these organizations can can target what's needed in their community
• 9:35
  instead of you trying to guess what they need.
• 9:39
  Let them direct that.
• 9:41
  If you really if you have physical resources that you do really want to give,
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  make sure that you contact whatever organization you're trying to give it
• 9:49
  to beforehand to make sure that it's something that they, that they need,
• 9:54
  so that you don't accidentally or inadvertently
• 9:58
  make response more difficult, with those really great intentions.
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  But sometimes, if you recall, during Covid, since we're kind of
• 10:06
  having those conversations that the giant supply drives
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  that were in the Hawaii State Capitol and just the the huge amounts of stuff
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  and those a lot of it wasn't very useful to any,
• 10:21
  I'm sorry, those that was in Covid, that was during the Lahaina wildfires.
• 10:24
  But it wasn't stuff that was useful to people.
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  Prom dresses aren't something that is going to help
• 10:29
  someone recovering from a natural disaster.
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  Unless a high school is asking for, you know, a prom,
• 10:38
  a special fundraiser, or drive for a purpose.
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  But if you're just trying to give, make sure it's things that can be utilized.
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  And I know
• 10:48
  that we both kind of serve in this role as public information officers.
• 10:51
  But for you, getting word out also means that you're getting a lot of word in.
• 10:55
  So people are complaining to you or telling you their needs.
• 10:59
  How difficult has it been to navigate that part of it?
• 11:02
  It's really hard.
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  It's something that we do,
• 11:05
  we really try to do, and it's something that is incredibly vital and valuable to,
• 11:11
  to emergency response
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  broadly to the Department of Emergency Management specifically.
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  But the whole what they call the emergency management enterprise.
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  All of us depend on getting good information in.
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  And so
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  all of those, all of the sharing of information,
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  all of the the things that are elevated to us that we hear
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  as concerns, what that really means for us is that those are opportunities
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  of what information we can provide and what services we can tailor.
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  So every time we start,
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  every time we start hearing,
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  say there's questions about what do I do with my storm debris?
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  If we hear those questions, that means that there's a gap
• 11:54
  we can fill with information and we can put more products out there.
• 11:58
  And that's that's something that that we're hoping
• 12:00
  when Oahu can really facilitate is if we're hearing questions,
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  that's where we're going to try and push as much information as we can,
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  because if one person asks it, we know ten people were thinking, same question.
• 12:11
  Yeah, yeah.
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  And then for you, Wally,
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  I know that these aren't like clients.
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  I know that this is a job for you,
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  but also, like, you have family on the North Shore.
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  So how difficult has it been coming into work each day,
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  not being able to be out in the field, helping your family,
• 12:27
  but still knowing that that situation is ongoing?
• 12:31
  Yeah, it's it's both really difficult and really easy.
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  I know that sounds strange, but it's it's hard not to go out physically.
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  I think all of us think,
• 12:44
  you know, when we think of emergency response,
• 12:45
  we think of the man with the shovel, right?
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  We think of the person who's who's cleaning the mud, rebuilding,
• 12:52
  serving the hot meal, providing that physical hug. But
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  what I think is really
• 12:59
  important for that, I try to lean on and that I know that you do as well.
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  And all of the folks that we have working just incredible hours and working
• 13:09
  so hard to to keep this moving is that all of the pieces come together.
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  We are really that.
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  And it it sounds cliche, but we are really that one. Oahu.
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  We are all coming together to put those pieces together, to move
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  everything forward, and that all of us have a part to play in that.
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  And so that's really
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  I, I've been in emergency management for a while
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  now, so I've, I've come to terms with that,
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  I think a bit more than, than some people that might be newer to this,
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  this, this kind of balance of
• 13:48
  where you need to be,
• 13:51
  where you want to be and where you can be.
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  And they're not always all the same place.
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  But just knowing that wherever you are and whatever you're providing
• 14:00
  is really valuable.
• 14:01
  And I think that goes for everyone on this island that's trying to help.
• 14:07
  Well, Molly, is there anything else you want
• 14:09
  folks to know right now?
• 14:12
  Gosh,
• 14:13
  I think I would want people to know that.
• 14:16
  And and I've said this in every, every press interview
• 14:20
  that I've, that I've given every time that someone has asked
• 14:24
  that we're really seeing truly what makes Hawaii special.
• 14:28
  Everyone says their places, special.
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  And this is one of the places, but truly is
• 14:35
  where seeing people come together in ways that just isn't,
• 14:41
  isn't fathomable to a lot of people in other places.
• 14:45
  And we're we see this with all the all the folks who come in,
• 14:49
  you know, we've we've got folks from, the New York Fire Department's EMT.
• 14:54
  We have contractors who've come in for debris management.
• 14:57
  We have a lot of people coming in, and they all are saying the same thing.
• 15:00
  The FEMA, even the FEMA damage assessors that
• 15:04
  this is this this is one of those special places.
• 15:07
  And and I, I just want people to remember that that as hard as it is,
• 15:13
  everyone is doing exactly the thing that they should.
• 15:18
  Everyone's working together.
• 15:19
  And if we can keep remembering that and that we're you are all on that one team.
• 15:24
  We are all trying to reach the same end goal
• 15:28
  of the recovered, resilient,
• 15:32
  stronger place that we can make magic happen.
• 15:37
  We can move mountains.
• 15:38
  We can we can do all those things we need to, but we only can
• 15:41
  if we all work together and fill all those holes.
• 15:46
  Molly, thank you for your time.
• 15:48
  Thank you.
• 15:48
  And that website again one or who.org Molly touched on it.
• 15:52
  Damage assessment where to get resources.
• 15:55
  There's a whole lot more storm related recovery.
• 15:57
  We'll have that info for you
• 15:58
  next week again right here on the One or Ahu podcast.
• 16:01
  Mahalo for listening. And until next time, Aloha.