Hawaii: Fires leave at least 1,100 missing – 08/23/2023 – World

Two weeks after the wildfires that devastated the island of Maui, Hawaii authorities announced this Tuesday (22) that at least 1,100 people remain missing, according to a provisional count compiled by the FBI, the federal police of the United States.

At least 115 people died from the flames in the country’s deadliest incident in 100 years. Authorities admit that the number is yet to rise. FBI Special Agent Steven Merrill said hundreds of people remain missing and the wanted list is likely to change as investigators “continue in the process of compiling additional data.”

On Monday, Maui Mayor Richard Bisse said the fires had left 850 people missing. Authorities warn, however, that the tragedy could have been much more serious.

Since the flames almost completely destroyed the tourist town of Lahaina, with 12,000 inhabitants, lists with thousands of names of people allegedly missing have been circulating on social networks, among security forces and emergency teams. Now, the FBI works to verify the data. “We’re cross-referencing the lists so we can determine who is, in fact, still missing,” Merrill said.

The FBI has posted a dedicated phone number for people looking for the missing and urged family members to contact them with additional information, such as last names or date of birth, that could help police locate or confirm a person’s disappearance.

Authorities are doing their best to refine the data and plan to publish a definitive list of missing persons in the coming days, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier added.

Identifying the bodies found among the ashes is complex. Of the 115 victims, only 27 had been identified by this Wednesday (23). In recent days, the authorities have been reinforcing requests for residents of the island and their families to send DNA samples, essential for the work of experts.

As part of the effort, the FBI mobilized agents to collect material from relatives who cannot travel to Hawaii, but investigators already admit the chance that not all victims will be identified.

“The number of family members who come to provide DNA samples is much lower than you’ve seen in other disasters,” said Andrew Martin, who runs the family assistance center in Hawaii, unable to explain why people seem less willing to provide samples. of the material—so far, only 104 have been collected. He reinforced that the information is not stored in databases.

The fire started on the 8th and quickly took over the region due to strong winds. Last week, the director of the Emergency Management Agency on the island of Maui, Herman Andaya, resigned after receiving criticism for the response to the tragedy – officially, he claimed health reasons.

The disaster hit Hawaii after North America was hit by a number of extreme weather events in recent months, from record wildfires in Canada to an extensive heat wave that hit the southeastern United States and Mexico. Europe and parts of Asia have also suffered from heat waves, floods and fires fueled by the climate crisis, experts say.

Data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN agency for climate issues, indicate that extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, landslides, storms and fires have more than tripled over the past 50 years as a result of global warming.