Maui wildfires one year later: FEMA sheds light on embracing local traditions in disaster response

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has trained close to 1,000 staff and federal partners, finding ways to embrace cultural and local traditions amid their response to the Aug. 8, 2023 Maui wildfires.

“Having an understanding of Hawaiian culture, its outlook and its behaviors, and how it manifests into our communities, was extremely important for people to know,” said Hōkūlani Holt, Maui cultural practitioner in a FEMA interview.

“FEMA has learned the nuances of its engagements, how to defer to culture and to considerations that are very locally nuanced,” said Summer Sylva, FEMA cultural protocol task force lead.

“Now, more and more people have an eye on culture in their communities,” said Mehanaokala Hind, Senior Advisor to the CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, and cultural advisor to the US Army Corps of Engineers. “For the people of Lahaina, for the people of Kula, for the people of Hawaiʻi—now when we see our communities, we see this resurgence of looking at spaces like Mokuhinia and Mokuʻula that are a baseball field now, and the cultural heritage is just below the surface.”

Sylva said it was important to have cultural monitors present to both guide and protect historic and cultural sites of significance; and to allow for protections of iwi kūpuna, when encountered, and for cultural protocols to be observed with dignity.

“The impact of Lahaina… for everybody in Hawaiʻi, those lessons of regeneration, of revitalizing spaces—to me, that’s the Hiʻiaka, that’s the greening of all of our spaces,” said Hind.

Sylva reflected upon the importance of acknowledging cultural practices. She said “Having our communities engage with the federal government in a way that feels more equitable and feels more inclusive, and feels like a true partnership—people have a sense that what they’re saying and sharing will inform decisions that are made about their short-term needs and their long-term goals and objectives.”

“For me, if the world can embrace ‘aloha’ in all of its meanings, that would make a great change in all of us,” said Holt. “And as others have said before me, ‘aloha’ will change the world.”