Tuesday, May 12, 2020 | 11:00 a.m. to Noon MT

Communication for Community Resilience: The Homeowner’s Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazards

Webinar Description:

The Homeowner’s Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazards, now in it’s fourth edition, provides Hawaii homeowners with location-specific hazard information on evacuation planning, how to retrofit homes to reduce risk, insurance, what emergency supplies to keep on hand, and much more. Having this information can inform individual emergency plans and motivate homeowners to strengthen their homes. As we approach the upcoming hurricane season while still weathering the COVID-19 pandemic, stronger homes will be even more critical to allow residents to shelter in place.

Education efforts like the Handbook have helped Hawaii homeowner’s retrofit approximately 2,500 homes, reducing the cost of potential risk by an estimated $1 billion dollars. Such advancements have led the Hawaii State legislature formulate a communication plan that will use the Handbook, along with other strategies, to incorporate the Whole Community, as conceptualized by the Federal Emergency Management agency, into these efforts.

Join us in this webinar as Dennis Hwang discusses the history of the handbook, its content, and the communication strategies that will help extend its reach.

Speaker:

Dennis Hwang
Faculty, University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Natural Hazards Center Overview Slides
Webinar Slides
Webinar Questions


Resources:

Homeowner’s Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazards – Fourth Edition

Hawaii Homeowner’s Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazards – Fourth Edition, PDF for Download


Hwang

Dennis Hwang is a faculty member at the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and lead author of the Homeowner’s Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazards. Hwang also wrote the Hawaii Coastal Hazard Mitigation Guidebook, which is used widely in Hawaii and is incorporated into the Kauai Shoreline Setback law and the Hawaii State Conservation District rules. After Hurricane Katrina, he helped produce the Louisiana Coastal Hazard Mitigation Guidebook for the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Hwang is also a subject matter expert and instructor for the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center’s Community Resilience and Flood Awareness courses, and a court-appointed arbitrator. He has a bachelor’s in geological sciences from the University of Rochester, a master’s in marine geology and geophysics from the University of Hawaii and a juris doctorate from the University of Houston concentrating in land use and environmental law.