Through the satellite images, we can see that the town of Lahaian has changed from a beautiful town to a piece of scorched earth, but there are piles of colorful houses standing in the scorched earth, which are so eye-catching. What is this place and why? Can survive the fire?
Hawaii has deployed about 400 sirens across the state to alert people to threats such as natural disasters. Among them, Maui, the second largest island, has 80 sirens, accounting for about 1/5. However, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency records show no sirens sounded in the state of Hawaii and Maui County as the fire swept across the island. Many residents said they did not hear sirens or even receive information about them. Some people who have lived in Lahaina for 40 years questioned that in the past, the local alarm had to be tested once a month on average, and for some reason they "dropped the chain" at a critical moment.
The official rescue and relief work for this disaster is also very lagging behind. The early disaster relief work was almost entirely organized by local residents, "there is no shadow of the National Guard, FEMA, state government, or local government."
Lapsodi Lunes is from Lahaina, where the fire was the worst in Maui, Hawaii. In an interview with a reporter from China Central Radio and Television, he described the thrilling encounter when the fire broke out on August 8. He said, The performance of the government's disaster relief is unsatisfactory. They "survived on their own."
Lapsodi Lunes, a resident of Maui, Hawaii: The fire started from the road below, and I think it was caused by a high-voltage electrical fault. There were a lot of locals trying to put out the fire because the fire department -- I guess there was another fire on the other side of the island -- all our fire trucks, the fire department went to the other side to help.
Lunes believes that the government's indolence after putting out the first round of fires led to delays in the best time for residents to evacuate when the fires flared up again.
Lapsodi Lunes, a resident of Maui, Hawaii: The government did not evacuate anyone because they felt that the fire had been extinguished and no one thought it would burn again. Around 2pm we could see the fire coming back up. It was very windy, I think it was about 60 to 70 mph, very strong wind. I woke my son and told him that he might have to evacuate because the fire was approaching. It wasn't until about four or five in the afternoon that the police came and began to evacuate the residents from the scene.
Lunes said that many relatives and friends of himself and his child died in the fire, and the delayed rescue work made the remains horrific when they were discovered.
Lapsodi Lunes, a resident of Maui, Hawaii: My son lost two friends in this fire. His friends were all fleeing and they went to the other side of the island. But luckily, my son and I both survived. I had a cousin, a relative of mine, who unfortunately died in the fire. The search and rescue personnel found the body, but it was not a body, it was more like ashes.
Until now, the community where Lunes lives is still in a state of power outage. He said that the government has been slow to act and blocked outside help. As local residents, they can only rely on themselves.
Lapsodi Lunes, a resident of Maui, Hawaii: We still have no electricity, and the service of the telecommunications company has stopped. I only have one or two bars of signal on my mobile phone, and I can only text or call my family. But now, the internet is down and the entire community is without power. All I can say is that the government did not interfere, they delayed everything. The government is here, but they don't accept people from outside to help, they closed the port, we can't even go to the port for help. FEMA, Red Cross didn't come until 3 days after the fire. Yes, we do survive on our own.