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and I commuted back and forth, but I knew a lot of people that were impacted, and I was told
<br />that the evacuation plan at that time was a man standing in front of, that worked for PGV,
<br />handing out hundred dollar bills to people so that they could leave and go get a hotel in Hilo.
<br />And that was the extent of the plan at that particular time.
<br />So, and I also took an interest because here I am living a mile and a half, and everyone kept
<br />talking about oh well, if you live a mile away, we're gonna let you get money to relocate. And,
<br />I, but then I started to learn about the wind rows, and the wind rows and the direction of the wind
<br />and that rows is kind of how it peels off from the plant depending on how the, what the wind is
<br />doing that particular time is how it's going to impact you, and at one point, we did have a
<br />monitor in Nanawale, but it disappeared. I don't know what happened to it.
<br />And, then there was another, a woman that lived just behind Lava Tree Park. She rented a small
<br />parcel of her land, and there was a whole megillah of testing and monitors that was set up there,
<br />and she got a little bit of rental money for allowing Department of Health to have that, that
<br />monitoring. And, then, that disappeared!
<br />So, I, you know, it's been a little bit strange kind ofI lived here now here 25 years so I'm kind
<br />of watching all of this, and it's led me to become more active and to testify on a variety of things
<br />because this stuff really makes people sick. And I think you're gonna hear today from people
<br />who were knocked unconscious in their homes with this Iselle Hurricane or whether it was
<br />down -classed and it wasn't really a hurricane. Whatever it was, it really hit Puna very, very, you
<br />know, in a big way, knocking down all kinds of trees. I actually was sort of semi -trapped in my
<br />house because a huge Albizia fell across and blocked the front door, but I was able to get out of
<br />there and drive out, you know, through the debris to the side.
<br />So, we see now, in this long period of time the kinds of things that can happen, and we've never
<br />been able to get this impact study that really shows, and I really want to say today that this, that
<br />these health studies need to also take into account children, older people, people who have
<br />chronic kinds of illnesses. What's it going to do to them? Cause we, we listen to what this
<br />doctor had to say whether you're Hawaiian or not Hawaiian. I mean, these things seem over
<br />long periods of time that they're really going to impact people, and, of course, a lot of us can't
<br />get, financially get out of our homes now. Never mind, you can't get out because the tree fell on
<br />it. We can't get out because, you know, the prices have dropped so low that what are we going
<br />to do? We're going to lose part of our whole life saving in our assets? And, again, we have this
<br />one mile limitation, but let me tell you, that air, those particulates are not respecting that one -
<br />mile limitation, and everything that I've learned about this is that, you know, these heavy
<br />particulates go down and lay in low lying areas. They lay for days in certain areas, and how
<br />you're gonna blow those off of there unless some big tradewind comes, it's gonna sit there and I
<br />don't, you know, I think the first, that first time around, nineties, there were all kinds of dead
<br />animals and birds, but you weren't supposed to talk about that.
<br />Anyhow, so, here we've got this—this idea that we're gonna have some money and be able to
<br />really look at this. I don't know who's going to be chosen, and whether they're really going to
<br />be somebody that's well informed scientifically; they're unbiased; and they're not going to start
<br />leaning, you know, towards these corporate interests. I mean, we have separation of church and
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