Pahoa, Hawaii >>
A sunny day in Pahoa on Sunday helped paint dry on 20 temporary miniature housing units being built to better shelter people who lost their homes to lava over the last nearly six weeks.
And as lava continued to vigorously flow into the ocean without destroying more property, one man who helped spearhead the micro-unit project is committing to adding another 30 units on an undeveloped piece of the same property owned by Sacred Heart Church in Pahoa town.
Gilbert Aguinaldo, who lives in Pahoa and is a graduate of Pahoa High and Intermediate School across from the church, said expanding the project needs to happen.
“Got to,” he said. “Got to. This my home.”
Aguinaldo owns two contracting firms — Big Island Electrical Service LLC and Pacific Rim Construction LLC — and helped facilitate the project, which started by modifying plans for prefabricated “quick sheds” sold by HPM Building Supply. Two windows, some extra interior space and other additions were made, and the shells with doors and roofs were done in a day.
On Sunday the 10-by-12-foot units were painted. Insulation is slated to be installed today, and drywall should follow Wednesday. Originally, the units were not going to have electricity, but that changed. There is no estimated move-in date yet, because a common area with a kitchen and another area for restrooms and a shower still need to be built.
Still, Aguinaldo said the quick pace of work made possible by numerous volunteers including materials suppliers, construction workers, social service providers and Hawaii National Guard troops has been amazing.
“That there’s a place of hope for people who lost so much — it’s awesome,” he said.
Lava has destroyed about 600 homes, mainly in four subdivisions: Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens near Pahoa, and Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland in Kapoho, about 8 miles away, where lava is flowing into the ocean.
About 400 people have been staying in makeshift shelters recently.
The lava, which began erupting May 3, has recently been flowing from just one of 24 vents, fissure 8, in Leilani Estates and running in a well-established channel formed by the flow to the ocean off the Kapoho coast where an entire bay prized for its recreation and tide pools was filled in.
On Sunday the U.S. Geological Survey reported that noxious gas emissions from the fissure system in Puna’s lower East Rift Zone on Saturday were nearly twice as high as they have been over the last two weeks, which possibly indicates a heavier lava flow rate from fissure 8.
USGS also said fissure 8 shifted from producing one lava fountain to three closely spaced fountains of which the tallest was 130 to 180 feet Sunday.
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