Victims of Maui Wildfire Criticize US President Assistance
- Zeke Kalau/County of Maui via AP
Maui – President of United States (US), Joe Biden, has provided assistance to survivors of the wildfires that swept through Lahaina, Maui, last week, where the death toll reached at least 111 people and 1,000 are still missing.
The federal disaster relief declaration for Maui includes the distribution of 50,000 meals, 10,000 blankets, and US$700 in cash to survivors of the incident.
Despite the outpouring of aid by the US president, questions surrounding the response to the disaster at every level of government continue to mount.
Many survivors said that aid arrived slowly, and days later they wondered why distribution centers were so chaotic, and the number of missing people was still so high.
Kebakaran hutan akibat badai di pulau itu telah menewaskan sedikitnya 36 orang, dan menghancurkan ratusan bangunan di Pulau Maui, Hawaii, Amerika Serikat.
- AP Photo/Rick Bowner.
Hawaii's Attorney General, Anne Lopez, has announced an investigation that will examine every criticism the public has leveled at the government, including sirens and emergency alerts not being turned on, as well as power not being cut off by Hawaiian Electric.
All of these factors may have contributed to the deadliest fire the United States has seen in more than a century.
"The Lahaina fire was a city made flammable by policy decisions made decades ago," Kaniela Ing, the national director of the Green New Deal Network and a seventh-generation native Hawaiian currently living on O'ahu, told Vox as she was about to board a plane to Maui.
At the same time, some decisions made locally also contributed to the chaos.
"When the report went out, the alarm system didn't turn on as expected," Ing added.
"Even the evacuation process seemed unclear. Some members of the public felt that the hotel did not give more respect and priority to the victims."
So far, a local official has resigned over negligence. Maui's Chief of Emergency Management, Herman Andaya, resigned on Thursday, August 17, 2023, after defending the decision not to sound emergency sirens meant to warn residents to seek higher ground.
Disaster response, by its very nature, consists of moving parts at the local and federal levels. Maui's geographical location, an island thousands of miles from the continental US, and the extremely high number of missing people have made the job more complicated.
It may take months to understand where the biggest failures were and why they happened.