Following Tropical Storm Iselle and the June 27 lava flow last year, researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo were interested to know how Puna residents were coping with these natural disasters. UH Hilo Associate Professor Lynn Morrison, a medical anthropologist, enlisted help from former students Alexis Ching and Marina Kelley, to conduct the Puna Disaster Resiliency Study, and the teamwork is impressive.
Morrison and Ching are co-investigators of the study, and Kelley is research assistant. Over the last nine months, the team has conducted research that includes interviews with residents, archival work, networking with key informants, visits with government and non-government agencies, participant observation, attending school and community meetings and going to a variety of forums.
Community response
The researchers are still analyzing the data, but Morrison says one interesting facet of the study has shown how different neighborhoods have different infrastructures in place to help them cope.
“There was a lot of community response and neighbors working with neighbors,” she says.
Ching points out that while this was true for Iselle, there were very different responses across the board in reaction to the lava flow. It was more about how people were preparing.
“Some people seemed to be emotionally and mentally equipped to better deal with these turn of events than other people were,” Ching explains.
Kelley feels conducting the study is helpful for the community because people are able to talk about what had happened. “I think they appreciated having someone ask them how they were affected and having people documenting how it was impacting them,” she says.
Whether it was reaching out to each other through Facebook, driving around and helping to cut up fallen trees, or attending town meetings, there was a comfort factor that community members found through networking.
“There was a sense of coming together and facing a common challenge instead of going it alone,” says Ching. She thinks this helped people mentally prepare for, and heighten their ability to deal with, the disasters and the impact that they had.
While researching and collecting data, Ching and Kelley also volunteered with the local Food Pantry (a Food Basket pantry). Since the Food Pantry is an already established and functioning organization, it was able to provide a lot of relief for those in need.
The researchers hope to have the results of the study fully accessible to the participants and the community. They also would like to see the study get published academically and share the findings with government agencies, non-government organizations and possibly give a presentation at an anthropological conference. Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense has shown interest in the study results.
Morrison and Ching feel the results will reconfirm a lot of the things that people have already observed, but shown through systematic research rather than anecdotally.
“I think that’s what we can do as researchers,” says Morrison, “provide that documentation.”
October 24 Puna Resiliency Block Party
Seeing the strength and dedication that the community put forth inspired the researchers to organize an event that would allow them to give back to the community, show their gratitude and commitment, and showcase the spirit of Puna. The Puna Resiliency Block Party will be held on Saturday, October 24, 2015, 3–8 p.m., in Pāhoa Village.
“It’s a ceremony for all the things that they’ve been through this past year,” says Ching.
Giving back in a constructive way and allowing for positive representation for Puna is the driving force behind the occasion. It also offers up an opportunity to come together in support of the Puna community.
For the full story, read the UH Hilo Stories article.
—By Lara Hughes, a junior at UH Hilo majoring in business administration and a public information intern in the UH Hilo Office of the Chancellor
