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As unlikely as a real missile attack is, we must prepare

Our County

Last week Saturday the state received a wake-up call, literally, when the Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency sent out a mistaken emergency alert to residents stating, “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

This caused pandemonium statewide, of course. I don’t have to describe it, many of you went through it. We don’t have to relive it here.

What is a priority for Maui County right now is education. This is why I spoke out against these air-raid drills in the beginning, because before we sound any alarms we need to tell people what to do if the alarm sounds. Education and preparedness are key, and we need to get over this perception that if a nuclear missile was heading our way that all is lost and there is no hope at all. That kind of thinking is dangerous and untrue.

First thing you need to do: survive the blast and the flash. We are talking about the first 15 minutes. After that we can talk about getting the kids and finding food and the rest of it. Survive the first 15 minutes, because avoiding full exposure to the initial blast should be everyone’s priority. If you get the warning you get inside. If you’re stuck outside and can’t get into a building within 20 minutes, look around. Dive into a ditch, hide behind rocks, whatever it takes.

If you are in a building, get away from any windows in case of exploding glass. A concrete building is better than a wooden one, of course, but you can’t be choosy while the clock is ticking. Get behind something and cover your eyes because you don’t want to look at the flash of light that follows.

That’s the first rule: GET INSIDE.

The second rule is this: STAY INSIDE.

Remain sheltered until you are told it is safe. Which brings us to the third rule: STAY TUNED.

Keep informed by listening to local AM-FM radio stations. Broadcast radio may the most “survivable” news source after the blast, but also remember to check your television and cellphones to see if they work.

These are important rules. I know many of you are saying that if there’s a blast, we’re all done for. It’s true that if the missile hits close by there’s not much you can do. However, the blast radius for the types of warheads that North Korea has is 4 and 6 miles.

There are other factors to consider, such as if it detonates in the atmosphere above and what wind conditions are like at the time, but you don’t have to worry about that.

Again, your job is to survive the initial blast. The county’s job is to help survivors outside the blast zone. And if Maui isn’t the target, we need to assist our sister counties that were affected.

Also, and this is a message for our businesses out there. Most of the messaging has been for residents, but we need our businesses to prepare too.

If there’s a real inbound missile warning, stores and restaurants and other businesses should not be closing and sending customers out their door. Again, GET INSIDE AND STAY INSIDE. If people want to leave, let them leave. Otherwise, advise employees and customers to get away from the windows and stay inside.

I heard there were some supermarkets and department stores that did just that. Many hotels and resorts put their guests in ballrooms where there are no windows, which was also the right thing to do.

There were many who responded well to this event. There were stories of panic but also stories of families huddled together in hallways, children in the middle of their parents, with the news turned up loudly in the other room. Afterwards, people felt relief, anger and were hit with the realization that they were ill-prepared for the real thing. So as unlikely as a real attack is, we must prepare.

This was a horrible mistake that was made, but like all mistakes made we can learn from them if we choose to do so.

Please read more detailed preparedness information at www.mauicounty.gov/emergency, also www.ready.gov/nuclear-blast.

* “Our County,” a column from Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa, discusses county issues and activities of county government. The column usually appears on the first and third Fridays of the month.

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