Mayor Blangiardi had the pleasure to meet with Minister Liu Shyh-Fang, the Minister of the Interior of Taiwan during her trip to Honolulu. Minister Liu was in Honolulu to learn more from Fire and Police professionals during a large exercise that took place in conjunction with the State of Hawaiʻi officials.
Minister Liu was accompanied by Director General Jerry Change of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), Director General of the National Fire Agency (NFA), Mr. Hsiao Huan-Chang and other NFA officials; Director Fan Chih-Kun of the National Police Agency (NPA) and Assistant Professor Chang Yu-Min from the Taiwan Institute of Education For Disaster Preparedness.
On the City & County of Honolulu side, Mayor Blangiardi had gathered Deputy Managing Director Krishna Jayaram, Dr. Randal Collins, Director of the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), Jennifer Collins, Deputy Director of DEM, and Amélie Saunois, International Liaison.
Hawaiʻi and Taiwan share the same challenges: Climate change and natural disasters. The typical scenarios these drills are trying to prepare first responders for are: hurricanes, tsunami, wildfires, power outages, flooding, etc.
Mayor Blangiardi mentioned how emergency management in Honolulu is highly collaborative: City personnel work alongside State officials and the military.
We understand how vulnerable we are” – Mayor Rick Blangiardi
Minister Liu inquired about messaging and how Honolulu would communicate with international tourists in case of an emergency. Deputy Director Walter mentioned the creation of HNLAlert that has a Google Translate feature. Visitors can also get texts for specific major catastrophic events. The City also relies on foreign-language radio stations and always works to improve communication with the public. Deputy Managing Director also mentioned the importance of maintaining good relations with Consulates, Honorary Consuls, the tourism industry and the military.
Minister Liu also fondly remembered her term as Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung between 2010 and 2014 under Mayor Chen Chu. Kaohsiung has been a Sister City with Honolulu since the 1970s.
