Since April is Tsunami Awareness Month in Hawaii (see page 7), it’s an appropriate time to assemble an emergency preparedness kit and create an evacuation plan for your family.

Summer is coming and with it hurricane season (May 15 to Nov. 30) and potential brushfires.

The Maui Emergency Management Agency (via www.mauicounty.gov) has great resources, including how to create a Personal Preparation Plan and pack an Emergency Survival Kit.

Although projections are not yet out for this summer, the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season in 2018 was tied for the fourth-most active on record.

Menacing Hurricane Lane in August was the wettest tropical cyclone on record for the state, dumping an astounding 52.02 inches of rain in Mountain View on the Big Island.

Lahaina residents will always remember Lane for its powerful winds that fueled a massive brushfire on Aug. 24. The frightening fire scorched thousands of acres, destroyed homes and vehicles, and threatened our town and schools.

Sadly, all the brush in West Maui is back, letters about land stewardship have ceased and government hasn’t required landowners to take steps to protect neighbors from their overgrown fallow fields.

Hurricanes develop slowly and give you lots of time to prepare. A tsunami or fire could require you to evacuate immediately – without time to round up necessities.

Assemble a kit you can grab in a moment’s notice, make a plan and be prepared for a disaster.