Natural hazards

Cover of Ka Pili Kai, Dr. Kapono stands facing the surf, surfboard under his arm.

Ka Pili Kai Ho‘oilo 2020

Click on the cover image to view the full issue. How Will COVID-19 Shape Our Future This issue discusses some of the impacts of COVID-19 in Hawai'i and explores what they might mean for our future. All of us at ...
Report cover for 'Guidance for Using the Sea Level Rise Exposure Area in Local Planning and Permitting Decisions: A supplement to the Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report'. Contains an aerial image of coastal erosion on Oahu's North Shore

Guidance for Using the Sea Level Rise Exposure Area in Local Planning and Permitting Decisions

This document is a supplement to the Hawaiʻi Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report (“Report”; Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, 2017) and the Hawaiʻi Sea Level Rise Viewer (“Viewer”) (both available at climate.hawaii.gov). The primary purpose of ...
Cover of Guidance for Addressing SLR in Community Planing in Hi document. Includes three images of beach inundation/erosion.

Guidance for Addressing Sea Level Rise in Community Planning in Hawaiʻi

Through a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Regional Coastal Resilience Grant, the Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program together with the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Office of Planning, and Tetra Tech, Inc., developed statewide ...
Cover of Sea Level Rise and Coastal Land Use in Hawaii. A collage of 5 hawaii coastal images.

Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Land Use in Hawai‘i

Rising sea levels along Hawai‘i’s shorelines call for state and local governments to take action by means of a wide range of coastal land use policy tools designed to help Hawai‘i successfully adapt to climate change. Hawai‘i is expected to ...
Entire article layout featuring images of various maps, webplatform and community preparedness group photo

Selected Tools for Awareness and Preparation

by Rachel LentzOften, coping with natural hazard preparation involves being aware of key information pertinent to that event. But sometimes that information may be hard to find or understand. Here are four resources that should prove useful to your own ...
Title layout including sattelite pacific hurrican image, Hilo flooding, and community planning group around a table

Facing the Storm

by Mara Johnson-GrohSince the day it was born out of the Pacific, 65 million years ago, Hawaiʻi has been sculpted by storms, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, earthquakes, landslides, and tsunamis. In the 21st century Hawai‘i is facing an increasing frequency of ...
Title layout including black and white photo of people running from 1946 tsunami surge in Hilo

“Like the Whole Ocean Was Coming at You”

by Josh McDanielThe science of tsunamis has expanded in leaps in recent decades. From advances in detection and alert systems to coastal inundation modeling and mapping, we now know more about the seismic forces that trigger tsunamis and can forecast ...
Title page layout - meeting and presentation photos food suppy photo

Community Means Resilience

by Natasha VizcarraDays before Hurricane Iniki slammed into the island of Kauaʻi in 1992, condominium and apartment managers went door-to-door to make sure their residents were preparing for the storm. Hours before the storm struck, motorists honked their horns in ...
Title page layout - USGS scientist observing glowing fissure 8 in the evening

Eruption

by Sara LaJeunesseOn April 30, 2018, the Puʻu ʻŌʻō cone of the Kīlauea volcano collapsed, triggering an eruption that would last for four months. Over that time, as lava drained for miles underground, long fissures ripped through the Earth’s surface, ...
Title page layout - cascading storm waters in front of Haena home

The Storm, the Flood, and the Future

by Jake BuehlerThe afternoon before the flooding, you would have been hard-pressed to find any reason to suspect it was coming. It was an idyllic, mid-April day in Hanalei, Kauaʻi, after all: 79 degrees, a mix of sun and clouds, ...