[Chinese Online Review] Hawaii's "Unprecedented" Fire Shines into the American Governance War, Maui Island, Hawaii | Time | United States

China Net commentator Hua Zhang

On August 8th local time, a raging wildfire broke out on Maui Island in Hawaii, USA. As of the 13th, the fire has caused 96 deaths and approximately 1300 people are missing. Hawaii Governor Josh Green said at a press conference, "With the difficult progress of search and rescue efforts, the number of casualties may further increase." According to statistics, this is the deadliest wildfire disaster in the United States in a century. Clay Tranicht, a tropical fire researcher at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, stated that this is the deadliest wildfire in Hawaii to date.

Mountain fire is merciless, it shows people the super destructive side of nature. At the same time, the various performances of the US government in emergency management also indicate that the significant losses caused by this wildfire are both natural disasters and man-made disasters.

Disaster prevention facilities are virtually non-existent

Former Hawaiian congressman Manila said in a media interview that the fire was attributed to American colonial greed. The reason for saying this is because the US government only regards this land as a "money tree" for tourism development, but neglects the necessary disaster prevention infrastructure construction.

The government of Hawaii claims to have the world's largest comprehensive outdoor all disaster public safety alarm system, with approximately 400 alarms installed throughout the entire archipelago. Strangely, as the wildfire roared, the alarm completely malfunctioned. Local survivors stated that they did not hear the alarm at all, and it was the sound of explosions that prompted them to flee. American netizens question that the so-called alarm devices are just decorations and are a scumbag project conspired by the US government, operators, and system contractors.

The director of the Maui Police Department, John Peretier, stated that after the fire, the network was interrupted and there was no radio broadcast, which posed a great obstacle to various work during the disaster. This is also a result of the local government's emphasis on tourism development over other infrastructure construction. According to reports, on Maui Island, only the airport, hotels, entertainment facilities, attractions and other places visited by most tourists have achieved network signal coverage, while in other remote areas, especially in the severely affected original residential areas, communication and network facilities are extremely scarce.

The rescue operation arrived late

At the first moment after the wildfire broke out, from the US President to the US media, it seemed indifferent, as if the disaster had occurred in another distant country. At a fundraising event in Salt Lake City, Utah on the 9th, Biden was still exaggerating the "China threat theory" and "China collapse theory", but did not mention the wildfires. On the 10th, Biden requested approval from Congress for approximately $40 billion in additional spending, which finally led to the emergence of "disaster relief" matters. But the funds used for disaster relief are only 12 billion US dollars, which is only half of the amount of aid to Ukraine and other international needs.

Angry American netizens immediately made a comparison chart between Kiev and Maui Island. The screen shows Ukrainians shopping, drinking, and shopping, while Hawaiians suffer from power outages, water shortages, and communication disruptions.

Hawaii, where the incident occurred, was precisely the logistics and command center of the US military in the Pacific region, but the US military's rescue operations were surprisingly slow. Local restaurant owner Kelly Scheer criticized, "We live on Maui Island, which is 100 miles away from the military. However, 72 hours after the fire, the US Navy, medical ships, helicopters, army, and natural disaster rescue equipment arrived in the disaster area."

From the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005, to the derailment of a toxic train at the beginning of the year, to the current Hawaiian wildfires, the United States has shown inadequate infrastructure in responding to natural and man-made disasters, slow and hasty rescue operations, and disregard and indifference towards the safety of people's lives and property. All of these have made people sigh: the United States, which claims to be a "beacon of human rights," is extremely "enthusiastic" and "concerned" about human rights in other countries. Why is it ignoring and perfunctory about its own human rights to this extent?

After the disaster, American officials did not deploy disaster relief work in the first place, but instead talked about the Ukrainian crisis and the "China threat", as if dealing with these fictitious "national security issues" was far more important than dealing with the imminent disaster that caused the people's skin pain.

These strange phenomena precisely prove that in the United States, where the two parties are fiercely fighting and social division is becoming increasingly severe, there have been major problems with the country's governance capacity. Therefore, reflection and correction on it should be more important and urgent than reviewing the causes of this disaster.

Editor and Reviewer: Gao Peining, Zhang Yanling, Cai Xiaojuan