Don Aweau, who helped provide support on Kaua‘i after Hurricane Iniki in 1992, has joined the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) as its Executive Officer.

Aweau, who 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, has more than 30 years of experience in federal, state and local government.  His work experience includes  senior instructor with the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at University of Hawai‘i; special assistant to the chairman in the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; and multiple roles with the City and County of Honolulu Office of the Mayor and Honolulu City Council.

He has also 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 Hawaiʻi Air National Guard during the Iniki response. A 1984 graduate of Kalani High School, Aweau earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa.

The Executive Officer, or “XO,” 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‘i Department of Defense and the state’s Director of Emergency Management.

“I’m excited to join the HI-EMA ‘ohana and thank Administrator Barros for the opportunity to serve,” Aweau said in a press release.

HI-EMA’s 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‘i ports and alternatives, if the Port of Honolulu should be damaged by a hurricane or other disaster.

 

Photo credit: Office of Governor Josh Green