Don’t let him get away.
The Lahaina fire was the worst thing to happen, as it fades away in time we will always remember the aloha that poured in, how we helped each other.
We must also remember the one who didn’t use the sirens and made it all worse. A resident says it all. Lahaina resident Lisa Panis said, “They didn’t give us no warning. They could have turned on the sirens so people knew to evacuate, it’s pathetic and heartbreaking.”
More people are coming forward with the same heartrending story. The sirens weren’t sounded, they were kept in silence and died. Who kept them in silence? It was Herman Andaya, Maui’s Emergency Management Administrator, an untrained novice. Civil Beat journalist, Christine Jedra points out,that he had no disaster experience and never held a job in emergency management. Hearing that Andaya was in charge, Colin Moore, political scientist at UH, said he was shocked that this person who was leading had no experience.
Why was Herman Andaya hired? David Hafner, former telecommunication planner, tells us in a Civil Beat interview last month
“It’s the good ole boy network-that got him the job- this time it cost lives.
We heard him telling why he didn’t use the sirens, that “the sirens are only used for tsunamis so people would have gone up mauka into the fire”.
How wrong he was. The Maui Emergency Website clearly states that sirens are for “ALL hazards, tsunamis,wildfires, flooding, terrorist events and more”.
If he had followed the rules and blared the sirens many could have seen the flames and run to safety but now there is one thing certain, he left people helpless in their homes to die.
Everyone sees this but once again with our usual aloha, we smile and let him go. We always smooth over disasters with our nice aloha. We let the one get away who sent Hawaii into a panic with a false nuclear bomb alert. We smile with aloha at the forty-year coincidence that whenever a geothermal drill starts up, a half-mile away are massive eruptions and earthquakes.
But this Lahaina fire is different, so deep and personal. We lost our ohana in Lahaina and we see who mostly caused it. If we let Herman Andaya whistle out the door it will gnaw at the soul of every one of us, and stick in our heart. Food and hula are greatly appreciated, but down deep the only thing that will heal us is justice. Aloha has to rest upon justice or it is nothing but fluff and flowers.If we are to heal we must bring back Mr. Andaya to face a judge and be accountable, more than that he has to face the people of Hawaii and apologize.
We have to set aloha aside and be tough. Only then will this dark cloud pass. We must do what’s right and be true to our motto,” ua mau ke ea i ka ‘aina i ka pono.” It’s what gets us through and back into the light. Aloha.
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Dennis Gregory writes a bi-monthly column for West Hawaii Today and welcomes your comments at makewavess@yahoo.com