👵🏼 IMSPARK: Where Every Kūpuna Is Disaster-Ready 👵🏼

👵🏼 Imagine... Where Every Kūpuna Is Disaster-Ready 👵🏼

💡 Imagined Endstate:

A future where Hawaiʻi’s kūpuna are protected, prepared, and prioritized before, during, and after disasters — supported by resilient systems, strong communities, and responsive leadership.

📚 Source:

Mizuo, A. (2025, March 27). Kūpuna are extra vulnerable during disasters. Here's how programs hope to help. Hawaiʻi Public Radio. https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2025-03-27/kupuna-are-extra-vulnerable-during-disasters-heres-how-programs-hope-to-help

💥 What’s the Big Deal:

During disasters, kūpuna often face compounded risks — reduced mobility, chronic health conditions, isolation, and limited access to transportation or real-time information 🧓. In the 2023 Lahaina fires, nearly 70% of those who perished were over the age of 60 — a tragic reminder of just how vulnerable our elders are when disaster strikes 🌪️.

To change this reality, Hawaiʻi is investing in grassroots and institutional programs aimed at making kūpuna resilience a statewide priority. The Hawaiʻi Hazards Awareness and Resilience Program (HHARP) is one such effort 📘. It educates elders and their caregivers about evacuation routes, shelter options, medication preparedness, and emergency communications.

AARP Hawaiʻi is stepping in to provide practical tools for senior housing facilities 🏠. They are developing emergency planning templates that include evacuation procedures, medication tracking, communication plans, and caregiver coordination 📞 — resources that can mean the difference between life and death.

At the policy level, legislative resolutions are calling for HI-EMA to expand outreach and emergency messaging tailored to kūpuna needs 🧰. These include culturally relevant alerts, local language translations, and backup communication methods in case of power outages.

Community leaders are doing their part 🤝 — organizing neighborhood meetings, distributing flyers, and making personal visits to ensure that no elder is overlooked. These actions build not just preparedness, but trust and intergenerational connection.

Protecting kūpuna in a disaster is not just a logistical task — it’s a moral responsibility. Resilient systems begin with recognizing who is most at risk and designing solutions around their lived realities.

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