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The devastating forest fires in Hawaii They already leave at least 96 dead, but Gov. Josh Green warned Monday that dozens more fatalities could be found as search teams scoured Maui neighborhoods that were devastated by the flames.
The fires that wiped out most of the historic city of lahaina They are already among the deadliest recorded in the United States in more than a century, above the Camp Fire tragedy, which in 2018 left 85 dead in California. But both fires are surpassed by the deadliest event in the country, when in 1918 Some 453 people died in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to the nonprofit research group National Fire Protection Association.
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“They will probably find 10 to 20 people a day, until they finish looking. And it’s probably going to take 10 days. It is impossible to guess what will happen, really ”, the governor said in an interview with CBS Mornings.
Green it also reported that the number of missing persons dropped from 2,000 to about 1,300. Many of them had been incommunicado because the telephone services were not working due to the fire.
But as the true magnitude of the tragedy originated on Wednesday of last week, new information emerges about how little prepared the island of Hawaii to deal with an emergency related to forest fires.
According to CNN, in 2021 the authorities of Hawaii released a report that ranked the natural disasters most likely to threaten state residents. These are tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. While the risk to human life posed by forest fires was classified with the word “low” by the state emergency management agency.
Also, according to CNN, a Maui County report on prevention of forest fires of 2021 stated that, although the number of hectares consumed by fire had increased in relation to previous years, the funds to prevent and mitigate them were “inadequate”.
The report also said that the Maui Fire Department’s strategic plan included “nothing about what can and should be done to prevent fires”in what he described as “significant neglect.”
The report recommended a thorough assessment of fire risks, but it’s unclear if officials heeded the recommendation, CNN reports.
The CNN report maintains that other documents from the last five years show that authorities knew the risk of fire was increasing and that could be exacerbated by hurricane force windsas it happened with the fire of lahaina. “Fires that occur as a result of another major threat or catastrophe, such as a hurricane, are especially difficult,” one of the reports said. He added that in these cases the first aid and fire teams are overwhelmed.
CNN emphasizes that during the fire of MauiHurricane Dora was hundreds of kilometers south of the island, but its winds fanned the flames.
The public resource webpage of the state emergency management agency also underestimates the impact of a Forest firemaintains CNN.
That site gives clear recommendations on what to do in the event of a hurricane, tsunami, flash flood, or earthquake. Only at the bottom of the page are two short paragraphs about the forest fireswithout similar advice on how to stay safe.
To all these antecedents we must add another that may be key when establishing the reasons that contributed to the worsening of the tragedy.
According to the AP news agency, in the hours before the forest fire consumed the city of lahainaCounty authorities Maui they did not activate the mermaids that they would have warned the population about the approaching flames. Instead, they sent social media messages that would have reached a much smaller audience.
The report also indicates that power outages and cell phone service prevented people from being able to communicate in time to find out about the danger.
Telemundo reported that one of the survivors, identified as Héctor Bermúdez, said that he managed to leave his apartment in Lahaina Shores alerted by the smell of smoke that woke him from a nap. He said that he asked a neighbor if he was leaving too.
“He said, ‘No, I’m waiting for the authorities to see what they’re going to do.’”Bermudez recounted. “And I said, ‘No, no, no, please go away. This smoke is going to kill us. You have to go, please. You have to get out of here. Don’t wait for anyone’”.
According to the AFP agency, the fire that started on Wednesday impacted or destroyed more than 2,200 structures in lahaina. Officially, Losses are estimated at $5.5 billion.without counting the thousands of victims who were left homeless.
lahaina it has 13,000 inhabitants. The AP agency reported Monday that the fire has already been 85% contained.
According to official data, some 4,500 people will need shelter in the coming days and a total of 3,560 gallons of water a day are required to meet the demand of all those affected, reported Telemundo.
“The remains that we are finding are from a fire that melted the metal”Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said.
The recovered bodies are difficult to identify, the officer explained, according to AFP. Only two of them could be identified, so he asked the relatives of the missing people to undergo DNA tests.
“We are going as fast as we can. But just so you know: 3%, that’s what has been tracked with the dogs.”he added.
the police of Maui said they would not be allowed to enter
while security assessments are carried out and while searches continue, including for those who can prove they live there.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
