June 21, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Release No. 2023-0019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HONOLULU<\/strong> \u2014 Don Aweau, who helped provide support on Kaua\u2018i after Hurricane Iniki in 1992, has joined the Hawai\u2018i Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) as its Executive Officer, Administrator James Barros announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aweau most recently served with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a senior advisor for the Interagency Recovery Coordination and Community Planning and Capacity Building cadre that responded to disasters nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has more than 30 years of varied experience in federal, state and local government, including as a senior instructor with the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at University of Hawai\u2018i; as a special assistant to the chairman in the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; and in multiple roles with the City and County of Honolulu Office of the Mayor and Honolulu City Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, he reached the rank of staff sergeant in nine years of service with the U.S. Air Force, and served with the 293rd Combat Communications Squadron in the Hawai\u02bbi Air National Guard during the Iniki response. A 1984 graduate of Kalani High School, Aweau earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Hawai\u02bbi, M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon brings a wealth of experience and a history of engagement with the community that is vital to the kind of collaborative work we do at HI-EMA to keep the people and property of Hawai\u2018i safe from hazards,\u201d Barros said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Executive Officer, or \u201cXO,\u201d is second-in-command at HI-EMA, reporting to Administrator Barros. The administrator in turn reports to Maj. Gen. Kenneth S. Hara, Adjutant General for the Hawai\u2018i Department of Defense and the state\u2019s Director of Emergency Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to join the HI-EMA \u2018ohana and thank Administrator Barros for the opportunity to serve,\u201d Aweau said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The agency\u2019s former executive officer, David Lopez, has shifted to a new role within HI-EMA, leading a two-year task force to plan ways to improve the resiliency of Hawai\u2018i ports and alternatives, if the Port of Honolulu should be damaged by a hurricane or other disaster. The details of the task force were set forth in House Concurrent Resolution 40 SD1, approved in the most recent session of the Hawai\u2018i Legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n # # #<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Adam Weintraub <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" June 21, 2023 Release No. 2023-0019 HONOLULU \u2014 Don Aweau, who helped provide support on Kaua\u2018i after Hurricane Iniki in 1992, has joined the Hawai\u2018i Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"3396,4332,4440,4445,3063,10240","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[355,351],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-355","category-news-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7754"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15620,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754\/revisions\/15620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Communication Director
Hawai\u2018i Emergency Management Agency
adam.b.weintraub@hawaii.gov
808-620-5417<\/p>\n\n\n\n