HONOLULU (KHON2) — Downtown and Chinatown businesses are still reeling from prolonged power outages early June. Now looking to bounce back and recover their losses, businesses obtained help from local leaders and Hawaiian Electric on Sunday afternoon.
Shopowners found time to fill out claims as they continue to recover from not one but two power outages that put them out of business for days. Organized by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, people were able to file claims with the aid of both Chinese and Vietnamese translators.
“The Chinese merchants, especially the ones who are living from hand-to-mouth, who don’t understand English. They’re afraid to fill out these forms because they don’t know how to fill it out. That’s our role,” stated Chinatown Outreach Task Force Chair, Wesley Fong.
HECO executives said as of Friday, 150 claims were filed. It’s staff there at the event to answer questions and clarify how to substantiate claims with the proper documents. Jim Kelly, HECO Vice President said they address loss of materials or inventory and damaged equipment. Kelly said the company typically does not pay for loss of business, revenue, or wages.
“It’s on an individual basis and it has to come down to, ‘Was the outage caused by something that was within the company’s control to prevent?’” stated Kelly.
The cause of the fire that started the outage is still under investigation, but HECO hopes to wrap it up within the next thirty days. If a claim is denied and the business owner disagrees, they have the option to file a formal complaint with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), per HECO.
“We’re also looking as a company what else we might be we may be able to do outside of the claims process to support the businesses in Chinatown,” said Kelly.
For those who could not make it to the event, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce plans to offer more assistance through fundraisers and a Clean Up Chinatown Day on August 17.
“We are constantly there trying to promote their businesses and making businesses available to attract more visitors as well as local people,” said Sarah Moy, Chamber President.