Bill Text: HI SCR163 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Civil Defense; Emergency Warning Sirens

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-01 - (S) Report adopted, referred to WAM. [SCR163 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2011-SCR163-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	163
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE CIVIL DEFENSE DIVISION OF THE STATE department of defense TO INSTALL ADDITIONAL civil defense warning sirens in areas still without sirens and ensure that all sirens are in working order at all times in case of disaster emergencies.

 

 

     WHEREAS, at 7:46 p.m., Hawaii Standard Time, on March 11, 2011, an earthquake with a magnitude of approximately 9.0 was felt in the city of Sendai on the island of Honshu in Japan; and

 

                WHEREAS, , within forty minutes a tsunami with wave heights of over twenty feet struck the city of Sendai with a brutal force, killing thousands of residents; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii shares a similar landscape, oceanography, and population with Japan; and

 

     WHEREAS, a similar type of earthquake may happen within the Hawaiian island chain to cause a tsunami to strike any island within 30 minutes or less of an earthquake occurring beneath or around the Pacific Ocean; and

 

     WHEREAS, section 128-6(8)(D), Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to civil defense powers, authorizes the Governor to act through the Civil Defense Division of the state Department of Defense to provide warnings and signals for drills, alerts, or attacks and the mechanical devices to be used in conjunction therewith; and

 

     WHEREAS, news reports of the March 11, 2011, tsunami in Hawaii indicated that some civil defense warning sirens were inoperable or that there were still pockets of communities without warning sirens; and

 

     WHEREAS, additional civil defense warning sirens and public safety communications equipment throughout the State of Hawaii will improve the timeliness of the Emergency Alert System in transmitting evacuation and other information to the public through radio and television; and

 

     WHEREAS, Act 5, Special Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, relating to civil defense, states the legislative findings in pertinent part:

 

"The legislature finds that the State's growing population and a general lack of awareness on the part of the public with respect to natural disaster preparedness, dictates appropriate government action.  This Act addresses the need for disaster preparedness by appropriating funds for natural disaster preparedness, including tsunami and hurricane preparedness efforts . . ."

 

     WHEREAS, Act 5 appropriated out of the hurricane reserve trust fund the sum of $2,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2005-2006, and the sum of $2,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, for tsunami and hurricane preparedness efforts, including installing and maintaining new siren systems, among other things; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Civil Defense Division of the state Department of Defense is requested to install, as a matter of immediate urgency, additional civil defense warning sirens in areas still without sirens and ensure that all sirens are in working order at all times in case of disaster emergencies; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Civil Defense Division report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2012 on the status and progress of the installation of additional civil defense warning sirens in areas still without sirens and efforts to ensure that all sirens are in working order at all times in case of disaster emergencies; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Public Safety, Adjutant General, Vice Director of Civil Defense, and Comptroller.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Civil Defense; Emergency Warning Sirens