Shelter locations were plotted or validated by address verification means utilizing tabular information provided by the Hawaii State Chapter of the American Red Cross. Because most of the emergency shelters were located in public schools, the Emergency Shelters data layer was created by utilizing an existing Hawaii Public Schools data layer. The Public Schools layer was modified by removing schools that were not emergency shelters and digitizing points that were emergency shelters but not located in public schools. The Public Schools layer was originally created by the State of Hawaii, Office of Planning in 2001. Street addresses and telephone numbers for each emergency shelter location were valididated using the State of Hawaii Department of Education public school directory and the Internet Yellow Pages.