- Hawaii officials defended the decision not to sound
emergency sirens during deadly wildfire in Lahaina. - Survivors have complained about the lack of official
warnings and the slow response of the government. - Recovery efforts are ongoing, with over a third of the
disaster zone searched by specially trained dogs. - The death toll is expected to continue to rise as the search
continues.
Embattled
officials in Hawaii who have been criticised for the lack of warnings as a
deadly wildfire ripped through a town insisted Wednesday that sounding emergency
sirens would not have saved lives.
At least
110 people died when the inferno levelled Lahaina last week on the island of
Maui, with some residents not aware their town was at risk until they saw
flames for themselves.
But the
head of Maui’s Emergency Management Agency, which operates a network of 80
sirens, on Wednesday defended the decision not to sound them as fire bore down
on Lahaina’s more than 12 000 people.
“The
sirens are used primarily for tsunamis. The public is trained to seek higher ground
in the event that the siren is sounded,” Herman Andaya told a press
conference.
He said:
Had we sounded the siren that night, we’re afraid that people would have gone (into the hills)… into the fire.
Criticism
has swelled since the disaster, with survivors complaining there were no
official warnings, with the mobile phone networks and electricity supply
knocked out, limiting the channels by which alerts are usually delivered.
Andaya on
Wednesday queried whether anyone would have noticed if the sirens had blared
their 121-decibel warning – a level the American Academy of Audiology says is
equivalent to a jet plane taking off.
“A lot
of people who are indoors, air conditioning on whatever the case may be,
they’re not going to hear the siren,” he said.
“Plus
the winds were very gusty (that day)… it was very loud, so they wouldn’t have
heard the sirens.”
Asked if he
regretted the decision not to activate the system, he replied: “I do
not.”
Hawaii’s
Governor Josh Green last week ordered a probe into the before-during-and-after
of the tragedy, to see if lessons can be learned.
Survivors
have complained that the government has been slow to help them; that the body
recovery is inching along, and that they are being prevented from going back to
their homes.
Disaster
officials have bristled at suggestions local people have lost trust in them,
insisting it is outsiders who are complaining.
“You
think that people that live here that are helping don’t care?” said Maui
Mayor Richard Bissen at a sometimes-testy news conference.
“Talk
to the people born and raised here. Talk to the people who are trying to piece
it together. The reason you should trust us is because this is our home.”
‘Difficult’
Over a
third of the disaster zone has now been searched by specially trained dogs, and
the death toll is expected to continue to rise as they work through the
remainder.
“This
is a really difficult search operation,” Deanne Criswell, the
administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told
reporters.
Destroyed homes and businesses in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii on 16 August 2023. The number of people known to have died in the horrific wildfire that levelled a Hawaiian town reached 106 on 15 August authorities said, as a makeshift morgue was expanded to deal with the tragedy.
“The
dogs have to navigate the heat. They have to deal with issues with their paws
walking through glass and debris and in these conditions. The dogs require
frequent rest.
“I
want to be honest with everyone: this is also going to be a very long and hard
recovery.”
Only a handful of
bodies recovered from Lahaina have been identified so far, two of whom were
named by Maui County officials as Robert Dyckman, 74, and 79-year-old Buddy
Jantoc, both from Lahaina.
Experts in
forensic pathology, some of whom worked in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks,
have flown to Maui, as efforts are stepped up to identify remains.
Authorities on the island have begun collecting DNA samples from people whose relatives are missing. But the presence of so many tourists was a further complicating factor, and could necessitate a much larger network for capturing samples, said Adam Weintraub of Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
A man on a bike carries a cross in the north side of Lahaina, Hawaii, on 16 August 2023.
“We’re
going to have to establish some kind of system where if you have family who are
vacationing on Maui and you haven’t been able to contact them, you can go to
your local police station” to give a sample, he said.
Biden
‘committed’ to Hawaii aid
The White
House said President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will “meet with first
responders, survivors, as well as federal, state, and local officials” in
Maui on Monday.
“I
remain committed to delivering everything the people of Hawaii need as they
recover from this disaster,” the president wrote on social media.
READ | Biden to visit Hawaii and meet wildfire survivors
Biden had
quickly declared a major disaster in Hawaii after last week’s inferno, allowing
the deployment of emergency assistance from the federal government.
But he has
been criticised by the Republican opposition for what they characterised as a
timid response to the fires.
The White
House said emergency officials had advised that “search and recovery
efforts are expected to be at a stage early next week to allow for a
presidential visit.”
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