The White House said that US President, Joe Biden, and first lady, Jill Biden, will visit Hawaii, next Monday, to inspect the damage caused by the devastating forest fires that swept the Lahaina resort.
And the White House added, in a statement, that Biden will meet with members of the first response teams that went to the place and survivors, in addition to local and federal officials.
The death toll from the Hawaiian fires, the deadliest in more than a century in the United States, has exceeded 100, according to what was announced on Tuesday. The authorities are continuing to search for victims and have a mobile morgue on the island of Maui.
According to the authorities’ latest toll, the death toll rose to 106, of whom only five were identified due to the difficulty in identifying the bodies.
The Governor of Hawaii inspects the damage caused by the fires
Aid workers sifting through the ruins of the almost burnt-out town of Lahaina, with the help of sniffer dogs, have covered only about a quarter of the area and still have plenty of space to work with.
The authorities fear that the number of victims will rise dramatically and have warned that it may double.
Also, hundreds of people are still missing. Some residents have been able to locate their relatives as communications are gradually restored on Maui.
And searching for bodies in Lahaina, which had a population of 12,000 before the disaster, is hard work. The fire was so massive that it melted metal: more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed and many homes burned to the ground.
Relatives of the missing have been invited to undergo DNA testing to help identify the bodies.
Massive destruction due to fires in the Hawaiian Islands
On Tuesday, employees from the US Department of Health arrived on the island of Maui with a mobile morgue, according to an AFP photographer.
The Maui fires follow other extreme weather events in North America this summer, as wildfires continue to rage across Canada.
In Kahului, on the island’s northern coast, several chefs prepare 9,000 meals a day, with the help of a large team of volunteers.
The governor said that the authorities intend to secure 2,000 homes in hotel rooms or private residences to house the survivors. This program is likely to last at least 36 weeks.
Reconstruction will take a long time. Its cost is estimated at about $5.52 billion, according to federal authorities.
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2023-08-16 14:50:02
