Two-Day FEMA Certified Natural Disaster Awareness Training

Kuha`o Business Center News Release

An upcoming three-day training session for community and business leaders will offer FEMA certification and cover important information about coastal community resilience, natural disaster awareness, social media for response and recovery and leveraging tools for conducting damage assessments.

On Tuesday, July 21 from 8 a.m. to noon, a one-day training course will provide state and local government agency staff and other stakeholder groups with background on natural hazards.

Coastal communities around the world are experiencing unprecedented change resulting from population growth in coastal regions and increased vulnerability to natural hazards.  Resilient coastal communities are better able to plan for and take action to mitigate the risks from coastal hazards, increase the pace of recovery from destructive events, and adapt to changing environments.

This course demonstrates how to integrate risk and community-based collaborative strategies into plans and programs and introduces tools that help communities assess individual risks and vulnerabilities as well as introduces strategies to become better prepared for the natural disasters.

The same day, from 1 to 5 p.m., community leaders have the opportunity to enhance their community’s ability to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against all forms of disasters. This course will help to enhance understanding of natural disasters, risk assessment in the context of disaster management, prevailing emergency management procedures and operations, and the different vulnerability factors that exist within their local community. It will also provide community leaders with an understanding of the necessary plans and tools needed in planning for natural disasters.

On Wednesday, July 22, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., this course focuses on the use of social media in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.  Social media has shown to help people communicate and collaborate about events as the events unfold.  Social media can provide rapid and immediate real-time information about events that helps provide greater situational awareness leading to better decision making.  Participants will learn how to integrate social media into their current communication plans. The course defines social media and its uses and identifies the tools, methods, and models to properly make use of social media in the context of disaster management with hands-on experience.

Participants will be required to bring their own laptop or wi-fi enabled device to the training session for the hands-on exercises. This course conducts a Pre-test, Post-test, and Course Evaluation online. If you do not have an online account prior to the class start date, you may not be able to participate in the class.

All courses will be held Molokai General Hospital Conference Room. For more information, contact Jennifer Hawkins, small business specialist at the Maui County Office of Economic Development’s Molokai Kuha`o Business Center at (808) 553-8100 or jennifer.hawkins@co.maui.hi.us.

These workshops are being brought to you by FEMA, the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii, State of Hawaii, and Lyon, in partnership with the County of Maui, Office of Economic Development and Civil Defense, Molokai General Hospital, UH Maui College, MEO Business Development Center, Molokai Chamber of Commerce and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.