LIHU'E, Kaua'i —You might think that the most crucial commodity in a disaster response would be fresh water, shelter, food or medicine, but Kaua'i officials say the lesson of 1992's Hurricane 'Iniki is that the most vital commodity is communication.

"We were back in the dark ages," said Tom Batey, a former state civil defense official who was then-Mayor JoAnn Yukimura's administrative assistant when 'Iniki hit, 13 years ago today. For the most part, immediately after the storm, authorities couldn't talk to each other or to the public.

At one point, Yukimura said, she was sending emergency messages to the lone operating radio station by bicycle — a co-worker's son riding Yukimura's bicycle carried a sheet of paper from the civil defense center to the radio station.

"It was Third World communications," she said.

Roads were closed. All Kaua'i radio stations were off the air for a time. Phone lines were strewn across the landscape — most not working. Police and fire radio systems were damaged. And the disaster managers on the island were able to talk to state Civil Defense only via shortwave radio — one person talking at a time.

The Category 4 storm swept south to north across the island, with sustained winds in the 140 mph range, regular gusts to 160 mph, and a single wind reading on a Koke'e hillside of 227 mph. It drove boats aground, stripped and snapped trees, threw entire roofs and walls through the air. Roads were blocked by fallen trees, debris and utility poles. The storm left a significant portion of the island's residents homeless and another big chunk marginally housed.

The Civil Defense Emergency Operating Center, off Kapule Highway in Lihu'e, now bristles with antennas and has multiple redundant communications systems that the agency hopes will survive the worst storm, tsunami or other disaster.

But even with all that, if there's a message from 'Iniki, authorities said, it is that it could all collapse again. People in Hawai'i need to be armed ahead of time with the information they need to respond on their own.

Key current and former civil defense responders said that for the first few days of any disaster, as in 'Iniki, the public should not count on them. It's a particularly timely lesson given the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, another Category 4 storm, and the human misery that followed as thousands waited in New Orleans for assistance in the hours and days after major flooding.

"The reality is, how self-sufficient are you? Because you're going to have to be," said Clifford Ikeda, plans and operations officer at Kaua'i Civil Defense.

Kaua'i Civil Defense administrator Mark Marshall said response officials in the initial hours and days would be dealing with people who are in immediate danger, ill or injured, and would be gathering resources to respond to the crisis.

"The public's expectation of what government can do for them is much greater than what we can possibly do. It's a harsh, bitter pill that our concentration will be on those most in need," Marshall said.

He reiterated a Civil Defense mantra — families should have their own emergency kits, with everything they would need to care for themselves for at least several days: food, cooking capabilities, fuel, bedding, medicine, water, tools, toilet articles and so on.

And if they need to evacuate, they should have a portable kit they could take with them. At most shelters, there would not be sufficient food, medical supplies or bedding. Evacuees would need to bring their own.

During 'Iniki, those with immediate crisis needs did not know where to go. Today, on Kaua'i, residents need to know that each of the island's seven fire stations would be an emergency information point.

"People with unmet needs should walk to fire stations. A healthy person should be able to walk to one of them from anywhere on the island in three or four hours. They will have communications and can relay the messages," Marshall said.

Other lessons from 'Iniki: