Parishioners mourned the dead and prayed for the missing Sunday at Hawaii churches as communities began a long rebuilding after last week’s wildfire demolished a historic Maui city and killed more than 90 people.
Lahaina’s Maria Lanakila Church was spared the flames that devastated most of the surrounding community, but thanks to ongoing search and recovery efforts, its parishioners attended Mass about 16 miles away, along with Honolulu Bishop Rev. Clarence. “Larry” Silva, president.
Taufa Samisani said his uncle, aunt, cousin and seven-year-old son were found dead in a burned-out car. Samisani’s wife, Katalina, said the circle of relatives would find solace in Silva’s reference to the biblical account of how Peter, a disciple of Jesus, walked on water and saved himself from drowning.
“If Peter can walk on water, yes, we can. We will make it on the shore,” he said in a trembling voice.
During the Mass, Silva read a message from Pope Francis, who said he prayed for those who have lost loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods. He also offered prayers to first responders.
Silva later told The Associated Press that she is worried for her children, who have witnessed a tragedy and are anxious.
“The more they can be on a general stage with their peers, be informed and have fun, I think the better off they’ll be,” Silva said.
Meanwhile, Hawaii officials suggested tourists travel to Maui, as there are plenty of hotels ready to welcome evacuees and first responders.
About 46,000 citizens and visitors have left the Kahului Airport in West Maui since the severe damage occurred in Lahaina on Wednesday, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
“In the coming weeks, collective resources and attention from federal, state and county government, the West Maui community and the travel industry will need to be focused on the recovery of citizens who have been forced to evacuate their homes and businesses. ” the firm said on a Saturday night. Tourists are encouraged to stop at other Hawaiian islands.
Gov. Josh Green said 500 hotel rooms would be made available for displaced residents. Another 500 rooms will be reserved for Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel. Some hotels will continue their overall operations to help maintain jobs and the local economy, Green said. saying.
A walks through the rubble of a wildfire, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
The state wants to work with Airbnb to ensure homes can be rented on the premises. Green hopes the company can offer rentals of three to nine months to those who have lost their homes.
With the death toll around Lahaina rising to 93, the government warned that efforts to identify the dead were still in their early stages. This fire is already the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century.
Teams made up of dead dogs covered 3% of the search area, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said Saturday.
Lylas Kanemoto awaits the fate of his cousin, Glen Yoshino.
“I’m afraid he left because we haven’t heard from him and he has figured out a way to touch his family. We hope for the best, but we are preparing for the worst,” Kanemoto said Sunday. your DNA to identify the remains.
The circle of relatives is mourning the death of 4 other relatives. The remains of Faaso and Malui Fonua Tone, their daughter, Salote Takafua, and their son, Tony Takafua, were discovered inside a charred car.
“At least we can find them the page, but the loss and pain is unbearable for many,” Kanemto said.
Up to 4,500 more people need shelter, county officials said on Facebook, citing figures from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pacific Disaster Center.
J. P. Mayoga, a cook at the Westin Maui in Kaanapali, still prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. But instead of serving hotel guests, it feeds the hotel’s roughly two hundred workers and their relatives who have lived there since Tuesday. The fire devastated the Lahaina network, just south of the complex.
His house and his father’s were saved. But his girlfriend, two young daughters, father and resident stay together in a hotel room, as it is safer than Lahaina, which is covered in poisonous debris.
Maui water officials have warned citizens of Lahaina and Kula not to drink tap water, which can become infected even after boiling, and to only shower briefly and with warm water in well-ventilated rooms to avoid possible exposure to chemical fumes.
“Everyone has their story and everyone has lost something. So everyone can be there for the other and perceive what’s going on in each other’s lives,” he said of his colleagues at the hotel.
Maui Mayor Mitch Roth warned that recovery efforts would be a “marathon, not a short race. “To keep the effort “coordinated and thoughtful,” Roth suggested Hawaiian citizens make a financial contribution to established nonprofits and not donate physical parts because there is still no reliable distribution formula.
The latest death toll surpassed that of the 2018 Northern California camp fire that killed another 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.
The cause of the forest fires is being investigated. The fires are the deadliest natural crisis in Hawaii in decades, surpassing the 1960 tsunami that killed another 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946 killed more than 150 people on the Big Island.
Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, Maui’s flames spread the parched brush that covered the island.
The worst fire tore through Lahaina on Tuesday, destroying nearly every building in the city of 13,000, leaving a network of gray debris wedged between the blue ocean and green hillsides.
Elsewhere on Maui, at least two other fires have raged out: in Kihei, south of Maui, and in the inland mountain communities known as Upcountry. No deaths have been reported as a result of those fires.
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Weber reported from Los Angeles. Jennifer Kelleher, an Associated Press reporter in Honolulu; Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Andrew Selsky in Bend, Oregon; Bobby Caina Calvan and Béatrice Dupuy in New York; Ty O’Neil in Lahaina, Hawaii; Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford, Connecticut; and Lisa J. Adams Wagner in Evans, Georgia, contributed to this report.
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