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You should consider reading up on semantics. If the US did not greatly subsidize Hawaii via federal tax dollars life in Hawaii would be far more expensive. Here is a simple example: Rail. Subsidized by the US. We could go on and on.
Only 1.5 billion of the probable 10 billion for rail will be funded by the Feds. And that's only if Oahu can even agree on how to finish and pay for it. Feds have threatened to cut all funding if we don't get our act together. What other subsidies does Hawaii get from the Feds? Maybe if you count the military, but I would hardly call that a Federal subsidy.
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Considering how downright awful our food security is here on Oahu (we import almost everything we eat) and how far food needs to travel to get to our stores, I'm surprised food prices overall are not much higher.
Somewhere I heard Oahu was three meals away from starvation if the container ships stop arriving. That's only not a lack of food security, but down right scary. Not to mention the dropping water table.
Now, should there be a big earthquake in California so the ports aren't functional anymore or a prolonged dockworker strike or something, the Big Island's problem won't be lack of food - it will be feeding Oahu.
On that note, state & federal officials reassessed how much food/water hawaii residents should have in case of hurricane. They doubled the time from 1 week to 2 weeks.
I tend to agree with this. Hawaii is so backwards, the last time a major tropical storm Darby MISSED oahu, it dropped a ton of rain, and wrecked havoc on our infrastructure. Now imagine if a real hurricane, category 3 -5 directly hit Oahu. It would be chaos.
I think most people in hawaii don't know this, it definitely wasn't advertised by the state otherwise there would have been outrage by the general public, but during that storm, a lightning strike fried the electronics and computer servers to the state emergency command center - I believe located in diamond head. So there was other state departments, federal agencies, private relief agencies, county emergency officials, etc etc all trying to phone into the "hardened" command center for instructions, and got NO RESPONSE. Communication was down for at least the entire night, and probably for quite a while afterwards. Sad to say, but I kinda doubt any hawaii resident would be surprised by this story.
The moral of this off topic story is that in event of a major disaster, you should not count on relying on the government to save you. Much as Hurricane Katrina survivors found out, you will likely be on your own for an extended period of time. You need adequate food/water and other supplies and a way to defend your family.
edit: scratch that, it was reported by the media. They fluff it up making it sound like the only thing that was really affected was the sirens for a short period of time, but in reality it was chaos, and the command center needed to use roundabout communication methods to try to coordinate disaster relief efforts with the outside world. And in the event of a hurricane, it's likely that things such as cell phone service would be down, so these alternative methods wouldn't be available.
The command center going down would have been a huge problem if a hurricane actually hit oahu.
Somewhere I heard Oahu was three meals away from starvation if the container ships stop arriving. That's only not a lack of food security, but down right scary. Not to mention the dropping water table.
Now, should there be a big earthquake in California so the ports aren't functional anymore or a prolonged dockworker strike or something, the Big Island's problem won't be lack of food - it will be feeding Oahu.
We'd never starve to death here or run out of water. 100% impossible.
I check my pantry and storage room. The foodstuff I stocked up is enough for two month's consumption. And because I use gas, I don't worry that I can't cook my food or I can't take a hot shower. But if there is a prolonged blackout like early '90s, then my neighbors may come to my home for meal and bath!
My only worry is about the new kind of gas water heater. Their pilot light is electronically ignited. So if there is a blackout, the pilot light will be gone and it cannot heat water even though it is powered by gas.
Matson would love to scare you into believing doom and gloom if they had a strike. It would be stoppped by courts and executive orders before it got serious.
And if one of the CA ports was wiped out in an earthquake- you still have Seattle, Jones Act waivers from international ports, military assistance with massive cargo planes using Hickman.
Hawaii is home to the US Pacific Command - nobody will starve.
No, we wouldn't starve, but it could get very uncomfortable - and I keep enough on hand to avoid that, and/or going out into mobs trying to get what they can as it is brought in.
After the 6.8 earthquake, we were a few hours from losing water, but luckily they got the electricity back up. So unless they have upgraded, we lose water after about 36 hours without electricity.
I always have enough food for at least a couple months... wouldn't be a gourmet or even a balanced diet, but calories are calories.
We have all seen the store shelves empty at just a hurricane that might hit, now just think if it actually does.
Be prepared, don't be a burden on the system, especially if you can afford it.
Also, that is not a Matson report, it is a government report/study.
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We'd never starve to death here or run out of water. 100% impossible.
I suppose the only answer to that is 'as you wish'. (The other answer would be 'yes dear', but I don't know you well enough for that one. )
The water table has been dropping on Oahu since the early seventies. Not sure what's gonna happen when they run out of ground water. Build a desalinization plant, I suppose. How much will water be then? And what about landscaping? If all water has be be processed in a desalinization plant, how much more expensive will Oahu be?
If the water table drops enough, doesn't the seawater come in? Something about a water lens flipping or something. It's been awhile since I've looked at the details of the island's water system. Maybe that's old theories and they have some better thinking now.
But, back before 911, they'd let folks go look at the water reservoir. You could go into the water tunnels and see the big pumps and a huge pool of water. They'd put a marker in the water to show the water level for each year. Up until the early seventies, the water level would be up or down but starting in the late 70's when the big construction was all over Oahu, the water level kept dropping and wasn't recovering from year to year. Now you can't go see it anymore, maybe it's recovering now?
No, we wouldn't starve, but it could get very uncomfortable - and I keep enough on hand to avoid that, and/or going out into mobs trying to get what they can as it is brought in.
After the 6.8 earthquake, we were a few hours from losing water, but luckily they got the electricity back up. So unless they have upgraded, we lose water after about 36 hours without electricity.
I always have enough food for at least a couple months... wouldn't be a gourmet or even a balanced diet, but calories are calories.
We have all seen the store shelves empty at just a hurricane that might hit, now just think if it actually does.
Be prepared, don't be a burden on the system, especially if you can afford it.
Also, that is not a Matson report, it is a government report/study.
board of water pumps are run by electricity, and they don't have backups to cover the island. in the event of extended power outage, running water will stop. That's why whenever there's issues with the pumps, they ask residents in the area to conserve. Upgrades or not, there's no way they'll get the pumps up and running after a hurricane knocks down powerlines across the island. After iniki, it took months to restore electricity and water. Keep in mind that Kauai is a much smaller population center, and had a large metropolitan city able to support them a (figuratively) stone's throw away. We are the opposite, large population center, HUGE energy and resource needs, and no close neighbors that can provide meaningful support.
the stores are all running highly efficient stocking models to increase productivity. so all of their inventory tends to be "just in time". They don't stockpile huge amounts of goods, so in an emergency, the store shelves are wiped clean almost instantly.
I suppose the only answer to that is 'as you wish'. (The other answer would be 'yes dear', but I don't know you well enough for that one. )
The water table has been dropping on Oahu since the early seventies. Not sure what's gonna happen when they run out of ground water. Build a desalinization plant, I suppose. How much will water be then? And what about landscaping? If all water has be be processed in a desalinization plant, how much more expensive will Oahu be?
If the water table drops enough, doesn't the seawater come in? Something about a water lens flipping or something. It's been awhile since I've looked at the details of the island's water system. Maybe that's old theories and they have some better thinking now.
But, back before 911, they'd let folks go look at the water reservoir. You could go into the water tunnels and see the big pumps and a huge pool of water. They'd put a marker in the water to show the water level for each year. Up until the early seventies, the water level would be up or down but starting in the late 70's when the big construction was all over Oahu, the water level kept dropping and wasn't recovering from year to year. Now you can't go see it anymore, maybe it's recovering now?
Desalination is expensive. But it is affordable.
Israel is the world's foremost user in desalination. One third of its water comes from the sea. The cost is about $3.06/1,000 gallon.
I just look at my water bill. The water usage fee for last month is 3,000 gallons which cost me $22.52
That is about $7.35/1,000 gallon
Last edited by Ian_Lee; 06-29-2017 at 01:34 PM..
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