Xinhua News Agency, Honolulu, USA, August 17th Newsletter: U.S. government’s poor rescue draws public outrage, Hawaii wildfires have a long way to rebuild
Xinhua News Agency reporter
Ten days after the wildfires, the stench and charcoal smell still linger in the town of Lahaina, a resort on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Many buildings and vehicles are also sprayed with X marks, which means that there may be human remains inside, pending further detection and identification.
As of the 17th, the wildfire disaster that occurred on the 8th has killed 111 people in Maui and thousands of people have been displaced. It was the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century. Local media reported that as many as 1,000 people were still listed as missing, so the death toll could rise further.
On the 17th, Herman Andaya, head of the Maui County Emergency Management Agency, resigned for “health reasons” after the disaster response was widely questioned. The insensitivity and slowness shown by the Biden administration in disaster relief operations in the past week have been continuously criticized by the outside world, causing growing dissatisfaction among the victims.
The home and belongings of disaster victim Dustin Calleope were destroyed by the fire. Displaced, he said, it was difficult to obtain information about government assistance measures, when they would be able to receive help, or when they would be allowed to return home.
Local victims told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency requires people to register on the website before they can obtain assistance such as temporary housing, but the worst-hit areas in western Maui are still in power outages, and the victims there cannot log in to the website at all. . Various official assistance centers are located in the east of Maui, nearly 20 kilometers away from the disaster area in the west. As for how to get to the assistance center, the victims can only find their own way.
Relief efforts by Native American charities have also been lackluster. Local disaster victims told reporters that people from these charities claim to have the initiative in disaster relief, but they do not have material reserves or logistics capabilities. In the first 5 days after the disaster, all food, water and material transportation came from local non-governmental organizations and private companies in Hawaii.
Kicoa Rainsford, 37, who lost his home in Lahaina in the fire, is now organizing civil relief there. In an interview with NBC, he said that every relief station and center is coordinated by Native Hawaiians, and local victims cannot count on assistance from the government. “The federal government has historically treated Native Hawaiians as ‘second-class citizens,'” Rainsford said.
Not only is the government’s ineffective rescue at this stage arousing public outrage, but the post-disaster reconstruction that is about to start is also full of difficulties. More than one Maui resident revealed to the media that the post-disaster search has not yet ended, and calls from real estate developers far away in the continental United States hoping to buy land at a low price have already been called. At present, many disaster victims refuse to go to the resettlement centers set up by the government because they fear that once they leave, they will never return to their former homes.
Kuuaipo Kumkasi, a famous native Hawaiian singer, said in an interview that during the post-disaster rescue, “people who are full of true love, enthusiasm and honesty for the native history and culture of Hawaii have made great efforts.” What he did was in stark contrast to this. They deceived the victims who lost their homes, pretending to be disaster relief, but secretly paving the way for future manipulation of reconstruction work for profit.
In this regard, Mona Bernardino, a lawyer of the Native Hawaiian Community Rights Organization, told reporters that this is a disrespect for the victims and the whole of Hawaii. “For us Hawaiians, the pain is real. Hawaii is not for sale, and we will rebuild Lahaina in our own way and on our timetable.” (Participating reporters: Huang Heng, Gao Shan, Hazel Reyes)
[error correction]
[Responsible editor: Zhang Qiaosu]
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2023-08-18 11:47:49
