Kauai health officials launch door-to-door emergency preparedness survey

Starting June 15, door-to-door survey teams will fan out across Kauai to check whether households are ready for the next storm, outbreak or other emergency. The Hawaii Department of Health says the visit will take less than 10 minutes, is voluntary and confidential, and some selected homes may be able to answer by phone.

The effort is the ninth Department of Health Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response survey conducted on Kauai. Survey workers will wear vests and carry identification cards as they contact randomly selected households from June 15 to 19, giving the Kauai District Health Office another islandwide snapshot of what residents have on hand when regular systems are strained.

Officials say the point is not just to count supplies, but to speed response when disaster hits. The Kauai District Health Office said routine CASPER surveys help it and its partners build capacity to conduct rapid needs-assessment surveys immediately after a disaster. The data also feeds preparedness work before, during and after emergencies, shaping outreach, education, programs and policy. Kauai Emergency Management Agency says its mission is to protect lives and property by coordinating mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery across government and the private sector.

The need is easy to see in recent survey results. In 2025, teams attempted 210 household interviews and completed 186, an 89% completion rate. That same survey found 81% of households knew about the recommendation to keep a 14-day supply of non-perishable food and water, but only 17% actually met it. It also found 17% of Kauai households had at least one member with electricity-dependent health needs, and just 45% of those households had a backup power supply.

The year before, 177 households completed interviews during the June 3-7, 2024 survey. That report found little change in household preparedness or evacuation plans compared with earlier years, but it showed a sharp rise in one evacuation barrier: concern about leaving pets behind climbed from 8% in 2022 to 19% in 2024.

County and state leaders have pointed to those findings as the reason the survey matters. In 2025, Senate President Ronald D. Kouchi said the report gave detailed point-in-time data about the circumstances facing Kauai residents, while House Speaker Nadine Nakamura said understanding residents’ challenges is the first step to solving them. For households in Kapaa, Līhue, Hanalei and elsewhere on the island, this year’s survey could help determine what gets stocked, staffed and prioritized before the next emergency hits.