The wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui have already killed at least eighty people. Report that local authorities. The death toll is likely to continue to rise in the coming days. Questions are now emerging about the actions of local authorities in what is by far the deadliest natural disaster in US state history.
The large-scale evacuations of residents on the island and the deployment of fire units are continuing. On Friday evening, more than 1,400 people stayed in various emergency shelters. Earlier this week, the historic town of Lahaina completely burned down. More than a thousand buildings were destroyed by the fire, according to Hawaii Governor Josh Green. On Thursday, the place turned into a charred wasteland, where entire neighborhoods were reduced to ashes by the sea of flames.
Not equipped
Data from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) shows that local authorities underestimated the threat of the wildfires. A legal investigation has now also been launched into the actions of the authorities after residents filed a case, the French news agency AFP reports. For example, things went wrong with government communication to citizens prior to the forest fires this week. HI-EMA logs showed that no one in the government apparatus on the Hawaiian island of Maui had activated the sirens used to warn of natural disasters, so wrote CNN Friday. Hawaii has about 400 sirens, 80 of which are on Maui.
Authorities are said to have been taken aback by the speed with which the fire spread. HI-EMA also acknowledges that the island lacks the necessary resources to handle a disaster of this magnitude. Maui has suffered from frequent power outages in recent weeks and the emergency number 911 also appeared to be out of order in several parts of the island.
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