Joe Biden has been getting justifiably blasted for his uncaring “no comment” with a smirk response about the Maui fire. At least 110 have died, with hundreds more unaccounted for. Biden then tried to clean it up but couldn’t even seem to get where the fire happened correct, though he claimed he was sending all the aid he could. The Biden team also said he would be going to Maui on Monday (seemingly after his planned vacation to Lake Tahoe).
When FEMA head Deanne Criswell spoke at a briefing on Wednesday, she listed food and aid that they were bringing in and said that they had deployed 600 people on the island. However, a reporter grilled her about that aid, saying that while they’re talking about all that, the people on the ground who have been affected aren’t seeing it.
“We keep interviewing survivor after survivor who says that either they didn’t see any government personnel or assistance for days, or that they still haven’t. How do you explain the disconnect between what they’re saying and what you’re saying?” the reporter asked.
Criswell responded, with a shoulder shrug, as though she couldn’t believe that anyone would be questioning what she said.
I think you need to understand that this community is going through an amazingly traumatic event. I can tell you that we have personnel that are on the ground year-round and embedded in with the state as soon as the fire started so we could continue to understand what resources were needed and help move them in.
So the reason the fire victims are saying they’re not getting help is because they’ve been through a traumatic event? Or is it because they haven’t gotten help? She seems to almost be suggesting they’re upset, so what they’re saying is questionable, which I find a bit offensive.
I’ve seen multiple other reports confirming what the reporter was saying and noted this in a prior post. It may be in part due to a lack of coordination and just cluelessness.
So far, Lahaina resident Kekoa Lansford said, they have yet to see much help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“I don’t know what FEMA came here with, because I haven’t seen it yet,” he said.
FEMA encouraged survivors Monday to register with the government as soon as possible for temporary housing and other assistance, including immediate payments of $700 to cover food and water.
FEMA requires them to apply through a smartphone app or on its website, but the hardest-hit parts of Maui, on the western side of the island, are still without power and internet service, Rawlins-Fernandez said.
If apps aren’t working, how are people supposed to apply? Maui County Council Vice Chair Keani Rawlins-Fernandez pointed out another problem.
Rawlins-Fernandez pointed out that the aid centers set up by state and local officials are on the other side of Maui in the town of Paia, “which is 10 miles away from where the fires were, and people can’t drive over because their cars were burned or because they don’t have gas.”
Maybe you set up closer to where the people who need it are? This seems rather basic common sense and would make it easier for people to apply in person.
Another survivor, Dustin Kaleiopu, said that it has been difficult for most of the residents to get information, “Nobody has a clue what is going on.”
Instead, most of the aid seems to have come in through locals rather than the federal government.