The Urban Planner Wants to Improve our Ability to Withstand Disasters
Posted on Oct. 31, 2014
The Urban Planner Wants to Improve our Ability to Withstand Disasters
Dr. Karl Kim, Executive Director for the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, and Chairman of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium wants to improve our ability to withstand disasters. Today (Friday Oct. 31, 2014) the Honolulu Star Advertiser featured an article by Christine Donnelly interviewing Dr. Karl Kim.
Resilience is more than an individual personal trait, it's a collective community asset, one that must be learned, taught and handed down through the generations. That's especially true in a far-flung island state like Hawaii, paradisical in some respects, but also prone to all manner of natural disasters.
Karl Kim, an urban and regional planning professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa who is the executive director of the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC), says Hawaii can be an international model for how to plan for, withstand and bounce back stronger from natural disasters. Recently elected chairman of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, which includes the UH-affiliated NDPTC as one of seven centers across the country that together address a full spectrum of natural and manmade threats, Kim says that being prepared starts with being aware, and involving the whole community in the effort. The center periodically offers a range of courses, on topics such as Volcanic Crises Awareness, Tsunami Awareness and Natural Disaster Awareness for Caregivers of Senior Citizens
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