KKCR, Kaua‘i Resilience Center debut ‘Stay Safe Kaua‘i’ – a show about emergency preparedness

A new radio show dedicated to disaster preparedness has debuted on Kaua‘i – following torrential rains that flooded homes and damaged infrastructure across the island earlier this month.

“Stay Safe Kaua‘i” airs on KKCR-FM. It’s co-hosted by the listener-supported station’s general manager Anni Caporuscio and Jill Lowry, CEO of Anaina Hou Community Park and the Kaua‘i Resilience Center.

“Something that we are both pretty passionate about is disaster recovery, emergency management and preparedness response in emergencies,” said Caporuscio.

Lowry in January launched an ongoing series of monthly meetings dedicated to the Kaua‘i Resilience Center, a proposed series of monolithic domes at Anaina Hou capable of sheltering up to 1,500 individuals during natural disasters.

“We have to do our very, very best to not allow the loss of life that happened on Maui. What happened on Maui can happen on Kaua‘i, it can happen on Molokaʻi, or Big Island or anywhere,” said Lowry, referencing the August 2023 wildfires that claimed at least 101 lives and devastated the town of Lahaina.

“It’s not about who’s involved or where it’s at. It’s just nature, largely. Climate change, hugely, and it can happen in any form or fashion,” Lowry continued. “I think we’ve all been mellowed by the sunny weather and the sandy beaches. I think Lahaina was a rude awakening: Like, ‘Oh, yeah, the real world happens here too.’ So people do need to start talking.”

“Stay Safe Kaua‘i” premiered on April 19 and will air on the third Friday of every month from 9-10 a.m. on KKCR-FM and KKCR.org.

In observance of Tsunami Awareness Month, its inaugural episode featured memoirist Monica Ribeiro Connelly, a survivor of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. The Dec. 26, 2004 disaster devastated coastlines in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere, killing more than 200,000 individuals – including Connelly’s parents. She was 13 years old at the time.

Future episodes will cover a broad range of topics. May’s episode will cover gun safety; a representative of the Kaua‘i Fire Department will join the show in June to discuss fire safety.

“Stay Safe Kaua‘i” takes the form of an informal conversation between friends.

“We’re coming out like normal people would come at it, and I want to reach normal people,” said Caporuscio. “Something special about what we’re doing is that we’re women’s voices talking about emergency management.

“It’s mostly men that are doing the first responding and the rescuing and all that sort of thing. But women do the caretaking and the preparation. They manage their families,” Caporuscio continued. “I think having women’s voices will open up emergency management to more families … Our intention is not to scare people by talking about scary stuff: Information is the fear-killer.”

The Kaua‘i Resilience Center will hold its April community informational event at 5:30 p.m. this Saturday, in the Porter Pavilion at Anaina Hou Community Park in Kīlauea. David Lopez, executive officer of the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency, will discuss the vulnerabilities of Hawai‘i ports.

Lowry envisions the Kaua‘i Resilience Center as the first of many “disaster-proof” domes located throughout the state. She sees a model in which the government provides 50% of building costs, while local communities contribute the remainder.

“I’d like to see a state bucket of funds that NGOs and community organizations can apply for … then have the community go out and raise the rest of it,” Lowry said. “I actually do believe the community should be a part of it, too. I think there’s ownership in it. There’s caretaking involved. The tooth fairy didn’t come along and build this for you; people invest in it. It’s part of their infrastructure.”

The Kaua‘i Resilience Center hopes to raise a total of $24 million to build its three monolithic domes, which are fireproof, capable of withstanding 290 mph-plus winds, and earthquake, hurricane and tsunami resistant.

Fundraising is key because federal grants only support retrofits, not new construction, according to Lowry. (Anaina Hou briefly considered taking a $24 million loan, before dismissing the idea as unfeasible.)

The center’s first benchmark goal is $5 million. That amount would allow for pre-construction and testing, according to Lowry, who said approximately $150,000 has been raised to date.

Many have given $100, $1,000 and even $20,000 to further the project. But would-be donors capable of cutting seven-figure checks appear disinterested.

“What I’m hearing is … ‘Good idea, but that’s the government’s job,’ and they’re not necessarily wrong,” Lowry said of the “very, very wealthy.”

“There’s no way that our state government can build domes or disaster shelters in every neighborhood that needs it. There’s no way. It’s never ever, ever, ever going to happen,” Lowry had claimed earlier. “You have to have nonprofits involved or public-private enterprise … Sitting around waiting for the state to do it is not realistic, and it’s not necessarily because they don’t want to.

“You’ve got the housing crisis, you’ve got homelessness. Now we’ve got wildfire issues. We’ve got water issues, we’ve got reservoirs that are being shut down,” Lowry continued. “We’ve got roads, wastewater issues – every potential thing, Hawai‘i is largely behind on.”

Caporuscio added: “That’s a really good case for outsourcing to a nonprofit whose singular focus is this.”

For more information about KKCR-FM, including its broadcast area, visit KKCR.org. To listen to archived episodes of “Stay Safe Kaua‘i,” click here.

For more information about the Kaua‘i Resilience Center, visit KauaiResilience.org. To attend an upcoming community informational event, including Saturday’s meeting, register online here. Space is limited to maintain an intimate setting. Light suppers are served.

Lowry will also present at the Emergency Preparedness Fair at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Līhu‘e, to be held this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. The free event is organized by Kaua‘i VOAD – Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove outdated information regarding a future Kaua‘i Resilience Center community informational meeting.