“Nine months after more than 100 people were killed and nearly 2,200 homes were destroyed, Gov. Josh Green says the state is making progress on rebuilding the historic town of Lahaina and improving its emergency preparedness.”
This first phase of the report did not analyze what caused the #Lahaina#wildfire, but provided a comprehensive timeline of events before, during and after the fire over a 72-hour period.
Miriam Keo was among 11,000 people displaced by devastating wildfires on Hawaii last August:
"My outlook changed during the pandemic, but the fire was the last straw for me … I don’t want to serve tourists any more. This isn’t what our ancestors would want,” said Keo, 40, who recently resigned from the hotel after 16 years to work at a composting company. “I want to be a better steward for my people and Āina. I want to show my kids that there’s an alternative to the corporate tourism we’ve been under for so long, and food is a big part of that.”
' ...thousands of people are still stuck in hotels, eating the same set menu week after week with no comforting Hawaiian dishes like poi (starchy porridge) or luʻau (baked or steamed meat and fish wrapped in taro leaves) or even popular local dishes that reflect Maui’s cultural diversity such as pork and watercress soup. The strict rules forbidding food preparation and not being able to share a meal with loved ones have taken a physical and emotional toll.'
A dedicated group of neighbors has tried to fill the breach left by government agencies stretched thin after successive, cascading natural disasters on Maui.
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Sixty percent of Lahaina’s banyan tree is showing green growth, that’s according to volunteers who have been working on the tree.
“You can see right directly behind me, I have a branch that just broke today, this separated today. So this is kind of scary to have this long of a branch break off. And you can see at the very long branch here, it goes all the way back to the heart of the tree right here in the middle. So we know that portion of the tree is dead. Unfortunately, we will have to start cutting that out. But there is good news, lots of this tree does have a lot of green growth, roughly about 60% has a nice green canopy. So above me, you’ll start seeing some of the greens pop up as I turn around, and you start to see that green show up back there. So we get lots of green above me. And this is the area on the courthouse side. The makai side of this tree has lots of growth,” said Duane Sparkman, Treecovery volunteer.
One of the more innovative items announced by the Governor’s office when it comes to disaster relief measures is the creation of a Lahaina Recovery Fund. In a press release announcing the measure, the Governor’s Office said that the concept was similar to the 9/11 Fund created in the aftermath of the destruction of the […]
Gov. Josh Green is proposing using taxpayer and private funds to build new housing and to pay home owners well above market value if they rent long term. Short-term rentals would simply be banned.