by Crystal Reiss

One August morning in 2023, Katie “Sully” Sullivan awoke to the first news segments about the Maui wildfires. An experienced American Red Cross Disaster Program Manager for Alameda County, she soon realized things were going to get bad. Later, the phone rang. It was American Red Cross national headquarters asking her to deploy. “Over the six years I’ve been with the Red Cross, I’ve seen the aftermath of large-scale disasters, from hurricanes to tornadoes to floods. Each brought unique challenges,” she recently said when remembering the disaster nearly a year later. But for Sully, this one stood out.

Hurricane Dora crashing into Maui’s tinder-dry foliage on August 8, 2023, meant there was little warning for what would become the worst natural disaster in the archipelago’s recorded history. The result: the historic district of Lahaina was virtually vaporized—as were sections of Palehu and the smaller Upcountry community of Kula—causing approximately 100 fatalities. A year later, the effort to heal and rebuild is still underway.

When Sully flew from her home base in Oakland, California to Kahului, Maui, and then on to Honolulu, where the main operations center for the Red Cross had been established to formulate a plan, she had no idea how intricate the Disaster Relief Operation (DRO) would become. “The original brief involved a couple of shelters on Maui,” with “some kind of mega shelter in Honolulu.” But as often happens during DROs, it soon became clear that another plan needed to be implemented.

Days later, Red Cross DRO managers laid the foundations for the operation by organizing Maui-based staff lodging in numerous locations: a retreat center, gym and church basements spread across the island. Shelters for households impacted by the flames provided more than beds, food and clothing. The biggest of them, Wailuku’s War Memorial Complex, included a donation center and an infirmary with medical staff and mental health practitioners to provide much-needed support for devastated community members. But Red Cross employees and volunteers soon realized setting up shelters and medical facilities was only the bare minimum required for a successful and supportive operation on Maui.

DRO Lessons

Tom Tanner, a Red Cross volunteer deployed more than 25 times to DROs over the last two decades—including during the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022—remembers how much he had to adapt once he got to the disaster area. Part of Tom’s role on the Elected Official Liaison (EOL) team—whose mission is to work with elected officials and their staff—requires understanding the spirit of an impacted community. Though he usually researches the areas he serves before arriving, he discovered on Maui that he had much more to learn.

One helpful person Tom partnered with during his deployment was a local Red Cross leadership team member. “She quickly picked up that our team (from the mainland) was out of sync with the Hawaiian people. We had to slow down to match the island’s pace to be most effective, which meant actively listening with our ears and empathically. We had to tune in and get to the right wavelength.” Ohana—which means family in the Hawaiian language, suggesting the support of all in a communal group—became an important aspect of the DRO, especially as teams convened at shelters like the War Memorial, a hub for Red Cross operations.

“My initial job,” Tom said, “was to be the Big Island of Hawaii’s government liaison after a small fire there, which was put out almost immediately.” Joining Maui’s DRO Government Liaison team with three others was a simple next step, especially because there was a great need for someone else, “…who could speak with knowledge and experience when dealing with government partners and elected officials. It makes a difference when they hear what you saw at a shelter; it becomes very real. You become a trusted source.”

Tom’s most meaningful work involved listening to the emergency operations liaisons (EOL) and relaying information to government officials. “I was the glue for the EOL team,” Tom added, explaining that on Maui, he listened and used his extensive background in computer science to guide and interpret, ensuring effective disaster relief.

Fortunately, he could turn to equally experienced teammates who were ready to jump in. Michele Averill, CEO of the Red Cross Central Coast Chapter, had been inspired by the organization’s mission at an early age when she was trained to be a lifeguard and swim instructor. Her extensive background in the medical profession as a radiologic technician/mammographer and fundraiser, gave her additional experience she could draw upon during the many Red Cross disaster response operations she participated in, including California’s most destructive wildfire, the 2018 Camp Fire. “You don’t know what to expect in terms of what you’re walking into. You just know you need to help in any way possible. The first night I got to the Camp Fire I slept in my car. You just figure it out, and you learn something from every deployment. You stretch yourself a little bit more each time….” Seasoned by that and other DRO experiences like the wildfires and floods in her own Chapter during 2020 and 2021, Michele was more than ready to join the Government Liaison team on Maui.

Once there, she adapted to the needs of the moment. “You go into a shelter and survivors see your Red Cross brand and they come up to you, showing pictures of their loved ones, asking, ‘Have you seen this person?’ And they want to tell you their story of survival. And you just listen. It’s the most important thing you can do at that moment.”

Like Tom, Michele knew that being an effective Government Liaison relied upon an ability to listen and understand Maui’s culture. Rather than responding uniformly, Michele learned that it was important to “ask people, ‘What is it that we can do to help you?’” To be culturally sensitive, she asserted, the conversation needed to shift, “by asking the question before opening the door.”

Opening the door to culturally sensitive interactions is something her fellow team member, Hanna Malak, the Regional CEO of the Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region, practiced every day while he was deployed with Tom and Michele as a Government Liaison. Learning to be sensitive on such a diverse island while successfully engaging in a disaster relief operation was an eye-opening experience. “As Red Crossers,” Hanna recently shared, “we like to fix things and solve problems. In Hawaii, you introduce yourself and see how someone’s doing before you solve a problem.”

Helping People to Get Back on Their Feet

During his deployment, Hanna spent most of his time at headquarters in Kahului but also toured numerous shelters and visited the Family Assistance Center (FAC) where families searching for loved ones came to receive assistance. His daily email communications highlighting shelter counts and important updates were a steady flow of information between the DRO team and high-profile elected officials like President Joe Biden, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, a congressional delegation, and the House Committee on Appropriations.

Speaking of these interactions, Hanna recalled how “Governor Green was an amazing partner, helping people, along with a lot of elected officials from the city, county and state levels.” At one point, Governor Green—a doctor before he became an elected official—arrived at a shelter with his stethoscope, asking where he could go to help those who needed medical assistance. These kinds of small but humane details left a deep impression.

“I really felt the spirit of Ohana,” Hanna added. “People wanted to care for their neighbors, friends and family. One night we were in Kula, Upcountry,” also ravaged by fire, “and a woman stopped me. I was wearing a Red Cross shirt. And she literally handed me the keys to her house and car, and said, ‘I’m fine. My house is fine. I’m going to live with my sister in Canada for a few months. Give my keys to one of my neighbors, anyone who needs the help,’—Literally someone she didn’t know…. The spirit of Ohana is real.” These kinds of interactions were transformative, especially during a time when “we were tabling and letting people know about financial assistance and long-term shelter,” in addition to providing food, clothing, physical and mental health services, prescription refills and everything from eyeglasses to medical equipment.

Finding a Way Back

Looking back a year after the fires, Hanna kept returning to the deep sense of connection people in the community felt. “It was a very emotional time. Everyone held hands and sang and prayed together. It was special to be there and see that.”

Perhaps because of these close bonds, some on Maui didn’t want to leave the area, despite few housing options and the high levels of toxins that resulted from the fires. “Some people left the island, but others wanted to stay. This was their Ohana.”

Eventually, the shelter population grew, in part “because of that Ohana spirit.” Those living on their friend’s couches soon realized that rebuilding a home would take substantial time. Many turned to the resources and services provided at shelters.

A year later, people are still in hotels, though the number of those in need has dropped, thanks to the Red Cross efforts to provide financial and other assistance by “figuring out the barriers people face. We have shelter resident transition (SRT), helping people to get back on their feet. Someone might have a job but not a car. So, SRT might provide a down payment for a car. Or maybe someone found an apartment but can’t make the first and last months’ rent. The Red Cross will take care of that for folks.”

When considering the experience on Maui, Hanna believes that “disasters like this remind us of the importance of being prepared, having first aid and emergency kits, a plan, and staying informed. It’s so important to be able to ‘grab and go’ in places like Northern California that have wildfire and earthquake risk.”

This is particularly true now because, as Michele stated, “Ten years ago,” when she started working for the Red Cross, “we weren’t seeing the disasters we’re seeing now. It used to be more seasonal, but now we see them all year round.”