The president of United States Joe Biden will travel to Hawaii next week to meet with survivors and rescuers working on the fires that have swept through the archipelago and leave more than a hundred dead, reported Wednesday the White Housewhile the names of the first victims of the tragedy were released.
The fire, which destroyed the city of lahainaon the island of Maui, is the deadliest in USA in more than a century. The Governor of Hawaii, Josh Greenrepeatedly said that the number of deaths, which already amounts to 110It could even double.
Only five of the deceased have been identified. Officials of the maui county released two of their names after notifying their relatives of their death: robert dyckman74 years old, and buddy jantoc79 years old, both lahaina.
Burnt out buildings and cars in Hawaii
The authorities of Maui began to collect samples of dna of people whose relatives are missing. But the presence of so many tourists on the island was a further complicating factor, and could require a much larger network to collect samples, he said. adam weintraubof the Emergency Management Agency of Hawaii.
“We’re going to have to set up some sort of system where if you have family members who are on vacation in Maui and you have not been able to contact them, you can go to your local police station” to give a sample of dna.
The task of finding victims is slow and arduous work, even with the use of dogs specially trained to locate corpses.
“This is a really difficult search operation,” he told reporters on Wednesday. Deanne Criswelladministrator of the Federal Agency for Emergency Management (FEMA). “Dogs have to weather the heat. They have to deal with problems with their feet when walking through glass and debris.”
I want to be honest with everyone: this is going to be a very long and hard taskAdministrator of the Federal Agency for Emergency Management FEMA
Authorities have repeatedly warned that the final death toll may not be known for weeks, but it is feared that it may be significantly higher.
Some refrigerated containers were installed on the island as a provisional morgue. He also arrived on the personal island of the Health Departmentto expedite the complicated process of identifying the victims, confirmed a journalist from afp.
Biden “committed” to Hawaii
Biden and his wife jill will meet on Monday Maui “with first responders, survivors, and federal, state and local officials,” reported the White House it’s a statement.
I remain committed to giving all the people of Hawaii need as they recover from this disaster.US President
In lahainawhich had 12,000 inhabitants before the tragedy, more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed and many houses leveled.
Biden signed the declaration of natural catastrophe in order to finance emergency equipment and reconstruction.
The management of the crisis has been harshly criticized and many inhabitants have said they feel abandoned by the authorities.
