Agency:
Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency, City and County of Honolulu
Email:
Position/Title:
sarah.harris@honolulu.gov
Hazard Mitigation and Long-term Disaster Recovery Program Manager
About Sarah:
Sarah Harris serves as the Hazard Mitigation and Long-term Disaster Recovery Program Manager for the City and County of Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency. She joined the City in September 2022. In her role, Sarah coordinates City actions and policies to lessen the impacts of climate change and natural disasters while improving community resilience. Prior to joining the office, she worked for over eight years with firms in California and Hawaiʻi providing guidance to private and government clients on land use and environmental planning. Sarah holds a masters in Applied Geospatial Science with an emphasis in Planning and Recreation from Northern Arizona University (NAU), and a BS in Biology also from NAU.
Presentation:
O’ahu Flood Risk: Understanding Community Experience and Perceptions
The City and County of Honolulu in partnership with the independent research firm, ReconMR, and public relations firm, Pineapple Tweed, recently conducted the O’ahu Flood Risk Survey project. The project targeted residents living in high flood-risk areas across Oʻahu to better understand their awareness of flood risk, knowledge or experience with flood insurance, and access to information about local issues. Findings from the survey were used to develop an island-wide flood outreach and education campaign held from May – August 2024 aimed at improving community flood awareness and resilience, including the benefits of flood insurance. In this presentation we’ll discuss the project objectives, survey development process, and share-out findings from the original and follow-up surveys looking at the outreach campaign’s effectiveness.