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FREE Disaster Preparedness Events – Open To The Public

Disaster Preparedness Information Booth Saturday July 11 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Manoa Marketplace (fronting the former Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf)

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA), in partnership with Be Ready Manoa, will be holding a Disaster Preparedness Information Booth on Saturday, July 11, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in front of the former Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Stop by to get important information about how residents can be prepared for a disaster.

Emergency Response Team Round Robin
FREE Training Saturday July 25th 8:30am – 12:30pm
Manoa District Park Pavilion (Facing Kaaipu St. Parking Lot)

Calling on all Manoa residents who are willing and able to help one another in the event of a major disaster – like a hurricane. Be Ready Manoa – with a generous sponsorship from Councilmember Scott Nishimoto – is hosting a Community Emergency Response Team (aka CERT) Round Robin Training where you can learn basic skills that will be useful following a major disaster.

The CERT program is essentially a ‘neighbor helping neighbor’ program since it could take up to 2 weeks before first responders can be fully deployed to all areas hit by a disaster. This training is FREE and open to the public. Please share this with your family and friends as we need as many residents trained to not only help themselves but also to aide others when necessary.

If you’ve been trained before, this is a great opportunity for a refresher. Email info@bereadymanoa.org to sign up.

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Posted in Miscellaneous.

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By Wes Oda – July 3, 2026

2026 Central Pacific Hurricane Season Forecast by the National Weather Service

Thanks to John Bravender, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service, for another informative session. The outlook for the Central Pacific is 5-13 Tropical Cyclones, and a 70% chance of an above normal season. The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) outlook is a very high probability of a very strong El Nino – which means that it is more likely that certain impacts to weather could occur.

This is the full presentation. There are useful tips on how to be prepared toward the end of the presentation. Given the outlook for this hurricane season, please determine if you can/should shelter in place by accessing the Homeowner’s Handbook published by the UH Sea Grant. The Department of Emergency Management (DEM) will announce if/when any shelters will be made available, and you should have your evacuation bag already packed. Prepare ahead of time and avoid any last minute preparations.

NWS_presentation_BeReadyManoa_20260530Download
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Posted in Miscellaneous.

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By Wes Oda – May 31, 2026

Join the Manoa Coconut Wireless Program – Manoa Residents Can Get a FREE Walkie Talkie

Manoa residents will be given a FREE walkie talkie if they learn how to operate the device and participate in monthly communication practices. Should there be a major disaster like a hurricane, an alternate form of communication will be necessary if there is no electricity and cell towers are down. Sign up or get more information by emailing manoacoconutwireless@gmail.com. This program is FREE and supported by a generous donation of radios by AARP. More information about the walkie talkie and the program can be found by clicking on the Manoa Coconut Wireless link on the Be Ready Manoa site.

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Posted in General.

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By Wes Oda – October 27, 2025

New HNL Alert Notification System

HNL Alert launched last week as the City and County of Honolulu’s new official notification system. HNL Alert is a free service that any resident or visitor can sign up for to receive alerts about potential and occurring emergency situations and other community updates such as road closures and impacts to City services. Users can select the types of events they want to be notified about and whether they want to receive alerts by text, email or push alert via an app. Current options include:  

  • Severe weather
  • Emergency and disaster alerts
  • Road closures
  • Ocean safety conditions
  • Board of Water Supply system notifications such as water main breaks in your area
  • Ocean water quality notifications such as brown water advisories

The new HNL alert system is a major upgrade in the City and County of Honolulu’s ability to quickly inform the public. HNL Alert messages can be issued faster and can contain more details, including images and links to real-time information such as shelter locations and evacuation areas. HNL Alert replaces the previous alert system, called HNL.Info Alerts, which is no longer in use as of April 1. 

HOW TO SIGN UP

There are two ways to sign up for HNL Alerts.

Option 1 (Recommended) – Customized Alerts: Create an account at HNLAlert.gov and customize what alerts you get and how you get them.

  • Pick what you want to alerted about and how you want to receive messages.
  • Enter home, work, or school addresses to get alerts targeted to certain areas of the island.
  • Log in any time to change your preferences or update contact information.
  • There is a link to a free app called Public Safety by Everbridge on the HNLAlert.gov page. Search for ‘honolulu’ after downloading the app to add the City. You can create or access your account from the app to get push alerts.

Option 2 – Urgent Alerts Only: Text HNLAlert to 888777. You will be automatically registered to receive only the most urgent notifications via text.

HELP ALERT OTHERS ABOUT HNL ALERT

HNL Alert will only be successful in keeping people safe if as many residents as possible are registered. Please spread the word to your family, neighbors, and friends.

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Posted in Hurricane.

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By Wes Oda – April 12, 2025

Emergency Preparedness References and Resources

Links

Websites

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Posted in Miscellaneous.

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By Wes Oda – January 21, 2018

Manoa Recognized as Disaster Ready Community

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Hawaii Emergency Management Agency

DAVID Y. IGE
GOVERNOR

MAJOR GENERAL ARTHUR J. LOGAN
DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

VERN T. MIYAGI
ADMINISTRATOR OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

NEWS RELEASE
August 24, 2017

BE READY MANOA RECEIVED DISASTER RESILIENT
RECOGNITION AT 9th ANNUAL MANOA VALLEY NEIGHBORHOOD SECURITY WATCH MEETING

HONOLULU — The community group Be Ready Manoa was honored as a disaster resilient community yesterday by local, state, and federal officials during the 9th Annual Manoa Valley Neighborhood Security Watch Meeting. Be Ready Manoa received recognition as a disaster resilient community through the Hawaii Hazards Awareness and Resilience Program (HHARP).

Distinguished guests that joined in honoring Be Ready Manoa’s designation as a disaster resilient community included:
• Representative Isaac Choy
• Vern Miyagi, Administrator of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency
• Bruce E. Oliveira, Community Programs Director, State of Hawaii Department of Defense
• Kevin Richards, Natural Hazards Planner, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency
• Ann Kobayashi, Honolulu City Councilmember
• Crystal van Beelen, Disaster Preparedness Officer, Department of Emergency Management
• John Bravender, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Be Ready Manoa is the fifth community to achieve this recognition. Waimanalo, Kailua, Aina Haina and Joint Base Pearl Harbor are the other communities.

HHARP is a statewide program designed to guide communities through a disaster preparedness process that will empower them before, during, and after natural disasters such as hurricane, flash flood, and tsunami. Completion of HHARP includes presentations on local hazards and guidance in creating a community emergency plan.
###

Media Contact:
Arlina Agbayani
Public Relations Officer
808-620-5423

Mahalo,
Arlina Agbayani
Public Relations Officer
Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA)
3949 Diamond Head Road
Honolulu, HI 96816
Cellular: 808-620-5423

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Posted in Miscellaneous.

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By Wes Oda – August 24, 2017

Be Ready Mānoa Team

“Together, we prepare, survive and thrive” is the motto, which we chose to rally our community members in developing a strategic preparedness framework for Mānoa.  As the first urban community in Honolulu to develop a disaster preparedness plan, we strive to serve as a model to help our immediate neighbors and others beyond. In the chaos and uncertainty, which can accompany disaster, our best chance of surviving and thriving will only happen when working together.

After the Katrina and Sandy experiences, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) realized that Federal, State and Local agencies could not do it all so has focused its efforts on building skills at the local level to enable communities to respond to disasters .  We were told at our first FEMA course for Community Leaders on November 21, 2013 not to expect emergency agencies to be able to respond within a week of a disaster.    Hawai‘i is the most remote archipelago in the world; there is less money, fewer personnel and a very long supply line.   We must rely on our own resources.

The solutions are numerous and daunting. We will be training as many of our residents to be Community Emergency Response Team members, developing an overall communications framework (that includes training residents on HAM radio and family radio service – FRS – devices), organizing and strengthening our existing Neighborhood Security Watches with more training, and encouraging our residents to always be prepared.rous and daunting. We will be training as many of our residents to be Community Emergency Response Team members, developing an overall communications framework (that includes training residents on HAM radio and family radio service – FRS – devices), organizing and strengthening our existing Neighborhood Security Watches with more training, and encouraging our residents to always be prepared.

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Posted in General.

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By Wes Oda – April 12, 2014