president of the united states Joe Biden arrived in the devastated town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui this Monday., speaking in front of the burned ruins of the city, with the words “We will do everything we can to help you recover.” The President traveled to the island while work was underway to identify the victims of the devastating attack. Fires that killed 114 peopleHundreds are still missing. “I want everyone to know that the country is crying with you, the country is with you,” said the president, who interrupted his summer vacation in Nevada to learn firsthand the work of the archipelago’s emergency teams.
During his speech, the president announced that he had appointed a government official to oversee the region’s long-term recovery. will be conducted “with respect to tradition”. “Maui will be rebuilt the way the people want it, not the way we want it to be,” he said.
Biden gave his speech next to the fire-damaged century-old tree, one of the main attractions of the historic city, which was the capital of the Hawaiian kingdom before the archipelago joined the United States. Emphasizing the image as a “strong symbol” of the island’s rebuilding, the president said, “(The tree) was burned today, but it’s still standing. The trees are there for a reason.”
the president’s excuses
Former Republican president facing Biden’s late visit donald trump He called it “disgraceful” that his successor had not responded earlier. White House spokespersons allege that Biden delayed the trip to avoid distracting officials and first responders on the ground.
The president has been criticized by the Republican Party and some media outlets in recent days for his cold-blooded response to the fires, which have become the deadliest fires in the country in the last century. Specifically, Biden spoke for the first time about the fires on Thursday, Aug. The 15th didn’t do it again until Tuesday.when the death toll has already reached 99 people.
But according to local authorities, and specifically Hawaii governor Democrat Josh Green, Biden turned behind the scenes in response to the emergency, by authorizing federal funds and sending the Army to assist in recovering the bodies. Actually, the White House Approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii on August 10Just a few hours after receiving Green’s request.
Despite this, the residents of the neighborhood with whom EFE spoke expressed their disappointment at the president’s silence. For example, a neighbor explained that the only assistance they received was a $700 (about 642 euros) payment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that “fixed nothing”. others showed disbelief in the lack of notification by authorities during the disaster for not sounding the siren warning system for fear of causing residents to run into flames, thinking it was a tsunami.
Local officials, meanwhile, warn that the rebuilding process will take too long. So far, just over 60% of the affected area has been recorded. There are about 850 people still unaccounted for, so the death toll is expected to rise in the coming days.
According to Criswell, more than one 1000 federal agents are already in Hawaii and none will be transferred to the southwestern United States, which is facing the effects of Tropical Storm Hilary. Maui residents complain that searching for the missing and identifying bodies is unbearably slow.
slow identification
Green told CBS that although search teams covered 85% of the search area, the remaining 15% could take weeks. The extreme heat of the fire may make recovery of some remains impossible. Criswell acknowledged that the process can be slow, but said the federal government has sent experts from the FBI, the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services to assist with the identification process.
Presidential visits to major disaster areas may pose a risk to the president’s image, although it is practically necessary from a political point of view. When President George W. Bush traveled to Louisiana after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, his opponents seized a photo of him looking out the window of Air Force One while flying over New Orleans, saying his visit lacked empathy. And Donald Trump was branded arrogant and insensitive when he threw rolls of toilet paper at a crowd in Puerto Rico after a hurricane hit in 2017.