Human Toll
Mishandling of human remains: Local forensic company breaks silence on Lahaina disaster response https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/10/09/mishandling-human-remains-local-forensic-company-breaks-silence-lahaina-disaster-response/
Kuhua Street where over 30 found
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Heartbreaking Stories Told By Lahaina Residents at the Maui County Council meeting on Aug 22.
Kennedy spoke at a recent event to honor those who have been serving those impacted by the fire
Resident Testimonies
Christy Shaver Horror, Survival, and Hope on August 8, 2023
Prayer and vigil for Lahaina residents
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The Maui Recovery Survey: Housing & Jobs monitors the housing and economic recovery of fire-impacted households on Maui. This initiative, launched one year after the devastating Maui wildfires of August 2023, provides monthly updates on the socioeconomic conditions in West Maui and Kula on a public dashboard. The project is run by UHERO in partnership with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) and the Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF).
The initial results from August 2024 include responses from 402 individuals representing 374 households who lived, worked, or owned businesses in West Maui or Kula at the time of the wildfires. The findings reflect the ongoing challenges fire-impacted households face in terms of housing stability, economic recovery, and access to critical resources. Poverty, unemployment, rent costs and housing instability have risen dramatically and these increases are persisting more than a year after the disaster. This suggests that gaps in assistance are still widespread and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable population groups.
Importantly, the (near) real-time and ongoing nature of this survey is critical to assessing the progress of Maui’s recovery. For example, the poverty rate for the survey cohort is more than three times higher than the most recent available poverty data for Maui County in 2023 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023). This staggering disparity underscores the importance of collecting data in real time and on an ongoing basis. Most of the existing data about the fire-affected community is held by federal and state agencies. It is often not publicly available, not updated on a frequent basis and not shared between agencies. This lack of transparency hampers public accountability and effective coordination among stakeholders. Most publicly available data is only released with a substantial time lag, limiting its usefulness for timely decision-making. The Maui Recovery Survey contributes to filling this data gap.
Further key findings from the initial results include:
Housing
• Households impacted by the fire are paying on average 43% more rent for the same or fewer bedrooms.
• At least 14% of surveyed households live in crowded conditions.
• The proportion of fire-affected households living with family/friends or unhoused has nearly doubled since the wildfires.
• 80% of West Maui residents from our sample were displaced from their homes and almost half had to leave West Maui.
• Displacement has not only affected residents of West Maui and Kula. More than a third of those who worked or owned businesses in West Maui or Kula, but lived elsewhere, were displaced from their homes following the disaster.
• Almost a third of households currently living outside of West Maui plan to move back within the next year.
Economic Impact
• Nearly 1 in 5 survey participants have seen their income drop by more than half.
• 29% of fire-affected households now live below the poverty line, compared to 14% before the fires. This is more than three times higher than Maui County average for 2023.
• Fire-impacted individuals face reduced job stability. Many work fewer hours, earn less income, or have lost their jobs entirely.
• Only about 70% of the survey participants who were employed in the tourism industry before the fires still have jobs in the sector. Less than half kept their full-time employment in the tourism industry.
• Many survey respondents report ongoing unmet needs: over 45% require financial support, more than 30% need housing assistance, and over 20% lack adequate food.
• Gaps in assistance persist. Individuals who are not receiving government support are more likely to report unmet needs
PDF: UHERO Report
AP: Researchers say poverty and unemployment are up in Lahaina after last year's wildfires
KITV: Sharp increase in poverty and housing instability persists in Lahaina, report shows
SA: New survey tracks recovery of households affected by Maui fires
MN: Researchers say poverty and unemployment are up in Lahaina after last year’s wildfires
SN: Report finds fire survivors struggling with housing, poverty (spectrumlocalnews.com)
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxIz61wrThn/
Meet John Kinimaka. John and his friends created a citizen-run “hub” that provides food, water, medical needs, veterinary care, and other resources to locals who’ve lost everything.
Sunanda, Indian descent, lived in Maui 30 years (26.52 min. clip)
Sunanda is a cook and service worker for Salvation Army’s “Women Helping Women” program. She lived in Hale Mahaolu Eono Senor Home in Lahaina (810 Kelawea St) with her husband. This facility was totally destroyed and a number of her neighbors died in the fire.
She reports no power at 5:30 am on that day and that it temporarily came back on at 6:30 am. She was napping when she smelled smoke, woke up and saw it was pitch black outside due to the heavy smoke. She grabbed some items. Outside she encountered flames, saw gas tanks and houses exploding and fled to an Aunty’s house in Lani Poco. She claims the fire jumped the road towards Lani Poco, but a resident started bulldozing the area to create a fire block and it worked.
The day of the fire she experienced a Chicken Pox outbreak for the first time. She does claim that she had visited someone in the hospital a few days earlier who had shingles but the outbreak raged to the surface with severe itching the day of and day after the fires. She showed me the scabs on her arms and upper torso which were beyond the crusted stage. NOTE: We should be asking for all skin/rash reactions. Some biological weapons do resemble chicken pox lesions. (see attached pdf)
The next morning at 4AM she tried to go back into the burn zone but was blocked. She gave them her address details, etc. but was denied. They are still denying her.
John, Native Hawaiian, Landscaper & Arborist (33.21 min. clip)
John resides in Lahaina. His home did not burn but came close. He was above the fires and he could see watch the damage progress. He wishes he had filmed it all. He reports he has lost over 50% of his landscaping business.
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John reports he is angry, sad, and blames government for all this. He suffers from recent sleep disruption and disturbing dreams.
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On that day he reports seeing many power poles down by Hwy30. He saw a gas station explode. He got in his car and tried to go to Front St. He was blocked by the cops (around noon) but waited until they left and went around this blockade then went home as the fire made a left onto Front St. He saw the old church burn. No firefighters anywhere. The fire moved south down Front Street unstopped. He saw the cops had stopped all traffic trying to leave Lahaina.
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About 1-2 weeks before the fire, residents got a memo (he thinks from the gov.) about plans to turn Maui into a smart city. He pointed to the West Maui Land Development company, specifically its owner, Peter Martin, for always being on the scene whenever a fire started in the past. He thinks he’s behind this “land grab”. “Wherever there’s a fire, he’s there,” John stated. “They want to turn Maui into a playground for the rich.”
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John also talked about West Maui Land Deve
lopment being behind water shut off in the past and having to confront them then suddenly water was turned back on. “They try to steal water,” he claims.
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John managed to be in the burn zone the next day before FEMA came in. As an arborist, he says they care more about the banyan tree than the missing children. He says the native Hawaiians don’t like that tree. “It’s the symbol of hate and capitalism.” He says it represents colonial oppression after stealing their lands. He doesn’t care if it lives or dies.