After the fire that ravaged the small historic town of Lahaina, on the island of Maui, Hawaii searches for its dead in the charred rubble of the city. The toll is already 111 killed, of which only five have been officially identified. Families, who are sometimes in mainland America, are asked to send DNA samples to facilitate identifications. The count is not over while a thousand people are missing. It is already the deadliest fire that the United States has known in a century, and which has led to the evacuation of more than 12,000 people, including tourists. By midweek, at least 1,400 people were in emergency accommodation on the island while more than 3,000 people requested assistance, from shelter to drinking water.
After the hell that completely destroyed the seaside town on Tuesday August 8 and Wednesday August 9, melting the steel, the authorities are systematically surveying the rubble with the help of around twenty dogs. “Over the next ten days, the number of victims could double”, said Monday, August 14, the Democratic Governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, in an interview with CNN. At this stage, 38% of the disaster area has been inspected. In 2018, the number of people missing after the deadly fire in the town of Paradise in California, north of Sacramento, had reached 1,300 in the first days after the fire, due to communication difficulties. In the end, 85 people had died.
Joe Biden, who had hardly spoken on the subject, finally made the decision to go to Hawaii on Monday August 21. His silence was the subject of sharp criticism. The tabloid New York Post had published a “one” showing both the survivors of Hawaii and Joe Biden on his bike, with the title “Joe-heartless”.
Structural drought
An investigation has been ordered by Governor Green to understand the reasons for the disaster. It will be led by State Attorney General Anne Lopez. No official cause has yet been put forward. The reconstructions made by the American press make it possible to sketch a scenario that combines the effects of global warming, changes in the use of agricultural land, and malfunctions of the electricity company, as was the case in Paradise.
This Monday, August 7, the tourist season is in full swing on the island of Maui, but Hurricane Dora is raging more than 1,000 kilometers south of the Pacific archipelago. Around 9 am (local time), the authorities launched an alert on X (ex-Twitter). “The red level alert is in effect for areas downwind of Hawaii, with low humidity, gusty winds and dry materials creating an extreme fire hazard. Be careful with fire outside », writes the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (EMA). The situation is at risk, even if it is not considered catastrophic, the alert level being only 2 – on a scale of zero to 4 – on the small island of Maui.
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