Rich Americans donated pillows and toothbrushes, after the Hawaiian fire, the Hawaiian Islands | Maui | United States
Author: Liu Xiao
"Almost all civilian houses in some areas have been destroyed." "The deadliest wildfire in the United States for over a century." These are all about the wildfire on Maui Island in the Hawaiian Islands.
In the severely arid island of Maui, wildfires encountered strong winds, forming a "1000 degree Celsius tornado" that destroyed about 80% of the coastal area of La Haina. When the fire broke out on August 8th, the coastline turned into a sea of flames, and people were forced to jump into the sea to avoid the fire.
A survivor said, "The community behind me turned into a wall of fire, blocking my way. As I was escaping into the sea, I found that the sea was also on fire. Later, the Coast Guard told me that it was charred seabirds and coral."
·When a fire broke out on Maui Island, the coastline was engulfed and residents were forced to take refuge in the seawater.
The fire has caused 111 deaths in the local area, with over a thousand people listed as missing, and the death toll may continue to rise. Thousands of homes have been destroyed and displaced.
In this vacation paradise, there are many luxury houses standing tall. That is an industry for wealthy people to live, vacation, or invest in. After the fire, locals found that many wealthy mansions were magically unharmed. The various "magical" performances of the wealthy are even more speechless.
"Famous socialites" and "famous mouths" make people angry
·Maui Island shrouded in wildfire.
On August 14th, "socialite" Paris Hilton arrived at Maui Island with her family. She is one of the heirs to the Hilton Group, whose family is one of the top billionaires in the United States. She is here on vacation.
It is said that after Hilton went to the island, he was very unhappy and said, "It's too hot here".
·After the Maui Island fire, Hilton and her family came to the island for vacation as scheduled on August 14th.
Indeed, the lives of ordinary people on Maui Island, which has been burned to the point of being unrecognizable, are in dire straits. The authorities in Maui County have requested mainland American tourists not to travel to the island again, causing approximately 46000 people to cancel their trips. Tourists on the island have also checked out, and a wave of cars has surged towards the airport and dock.
However, there are still some tourists who continue to stay in the local area to enjoy themselves, especially those wealthy people who continue to flock to Maui Island and enjoy their vacation as planned.
After the fire, Maui Island has sunny weather and seaside resort hotels are operating as usual. Luxury guests still play water on the beach or sit under umbrellas to rest, with white bath towels spread on their lounge chairs. The locals expressed dissatisfaction, "Our people died in that water area three days ago, but the tourists continued to swim there as usual."
There is a resort hotel not far from the bustling seaside. There is a screen next to the hotel's swimming pool, double layered fountain, and glass wall, playing notices of providing relief funds for resort hotel employees. The hotel staff are mostly local residents, and many people's homes were destroyed in the fire.
A 21-year-old local employee said, "For the tourism industry, this place is filled with beautiful rainbows and butterflies, but the scenery below is indeed somewhat frightening."
On one side is a heavenly life, on the other is ashes and scorched earth. Many Maui people say that this disaster highlights "two parallel worlds," one allowing the rich to continue enjoying themselves and the other tormenting the poor.
On the evening of August 12th, the Hawaii Tourism Board issued a statement: "In the coming days and weeks, our collective resources and attention must focus on the reconstruction of residents and communities forced to evacuate their homes."
At this moment, Hilton swaggered to vacation, no wonder it caused anger among the residents of Maui. A local resident said, "If this happens in your hometown, would you like us to travel? We must take care of ourselves first."
In the face of criticism, Hilton's personal spokesperson explained to the media, "Hilton had planned to go to Hawaii a long time ago. Since she was born, she has often gone on vacation to Hawaii. There are many of her relatives there, and Hawaii can be considered her second home."
In order to reduce the anger of the local people, the Hiltons generously donated some tissues and toothbrushes.
There are not only "socialites" but also "celebrities" who have angered the disaster stricken people.
After the fire, talk show celebrity Oprah arrived. She immediately rushed to the local shelter with the camera team of CBS and requested to "interview the victims".
The authorities busy with handling disaster relief affairs refused. To enter the shelter, Oprah promised to donate only and not open a label upon entering. After obtaining approval, she donated some pillows, sheets, and tissues to the shelter. She didn't forget to ask the team to film this scene.
Now, American netizens are discussing and questioning why she is so stingy. According to Forbes magazine's statistics in January last year, Oprah has $2.6 billion in assets and also owns a media business empire.
·Group photo taken at the 2012 Forbes Charity Gala, featuring Oprah.
Oprah is also a frequent guest on Forbes Rich List. In 2012, she participated in a Forbes charity event with other billionaires and took a photo that was known as the "wealthiest group photo in history.". It is reported that the total wealth of the 12 billionaires in the photo is approximately 126 billion US dollars.
Faced with questioning, Oprah's response was: "I will donate funds to the appropriate fund at the appropriate time."
Are you all thinking about hoarding land?
Oprah's stingy donation has sparked criticism, partly due to her identity as a resident of Maui Island, owning over 1000 acres of land on the island.
A netizen wrote on her social media account, "You should repay the 870 acres of land you spent $6.6 million on in March this year. The residents of Maui need this land to rebuild their homes."
·Oprah.
A netizen posted about Oprah's estate and farm on Maui Island, questioning "why is her estate safe?" A self media video claimed that Oprah quickly hoarded land and expanded her estate by 70 acres after the wildfire in 2017.
Oprah's appetite for buying land seems to be growing. In 2022, Oprah purchased 100 acres of land, and earlier this year she bought another 520 acres of land. In March, she suddenly bought 870 acres of land.
Throughout the entire state of Hawaii, the wealthy have sparked a wave of land hoarding. In addition to celebrities like Oprah, tech giants in Silicon Valley also see the area as their second home. Benioff, CEO of the custom software service company Saffles, purchased a large piece of land in Hawaii for $12.5 million in 2000 and spent several years designing, expanding luxury homes and estates. In the process, he even founded a construction company.
Since 2014, Facebook founder Zuckerberg has been purchasing land on Kauai Island, with a total area of over 1300 acres, including the most picturesque seaside on the island. His extensive hoarding of land occasionally triggers friction with the locals. A netizen commented, "Zuckerberg and Oprah are on par in terms of land hoarding."
After the fire, a large number of local people's houses were destroyed and there was not enough money to rebuild their homes. Investors and real estate developers took advantage of the situation to persuade locals to sell land at a low price, hoping to acquire land that locals have lived on for decades or even generations.
The locals are very concerned about this situation. Disaster victims are concerned that if the US government's assistance and insurance payouts are not in place, residents whose houses have been destroyed may have no choice but to sell their land and leave their homes. For a while, the slogan "Return Hawaii to Hawaiians" became popular.
Due to many wealthy mansions being unharmed in the fire, various rumors have also emerged. After the fire, land prices plummeted, and Oprah and other wealthy people were preparing for a new round of land reclamation. Similar claims were widely circulated, such as "the wealthy intentionally set fire to drive away the poor.".
Regarding the cause of the fire, someone brought out an episode from the animated series "The Simpsons" and believed that there was a "divine prediction" in the film. The reason for the fire this time was that Maui Island was "hit by an energy weapon.".
·A video of the cause of the Maui Island fire circulating on the US internet, with a screenshot of "The Simpsons".
·A video circulating on the internet in the United States about the cause of the Maui Island fire.
In the midst of rumors, some have calmly explained that the reason why wealthy mansions are mostly unharmed is not only because they are located in locations on the island with better fire protection conditions, but also because they mostly use fire-resistant foundations and isolation belts.
However, the indifference of the wealthy and the incompetence of the government make many people prefer to believe those rumors. Behind each exaggerated rumor is the public's distrust of the wealthy and the government.
Where has the money gone?
The rescue operation is indeed lackluster. Some non local charitable organizations involved in disaster relief do not have material reserves or logistics capabilities. For the first five days after the disaster, food, water, and material transportation rely entirely on local Hawaiian civil organizations and private enterprises.
·A volunteer piloting a motorboat distributed supplies to the people waiting in the seawater.
Due to weak government organization, the public can only carry out self rescue and use motorboats to deliver a few supplies to more severely affected areas.
According to American media sources, the Maui Island fire is related to its long neglected infrastructure such as cables. When the fire broke out, due to aging cables, the local government was unable to quickly close the power switch, causing the fire to spread in multiple directions. Finally, the fire erupted like a bomb. Survivor's memory: "Ashes turned into hot fireballs, flying towards me at the speed of a baseball. In the end, I could only dive into the sea because the sea was also on fire."
In fact, many years ago, local residents repeatedly proposed that the authorities provide funds to replace aging cables, but the authorities have all evaded this matter on the grounds of lack of funds.
After the fire, a netizen wrote, "Where did the money that the wealthy threw on the island go?"
Shortly before the outbreak of the fire, there were sporadic incidents. However, authorities claimed that the fire was within a controllable range. In order to ensure tourism revenue, traffic continued to flow towards the beach until the fire suddenly broke out, trapping many people inside the cars.
When the fire broke out, the local government closed the mobile signal tower and did not issue an alarm, resulting in many children being trapped at home and dying.
A media source said on social media accounts, "The local government has piled up bodies in houses without air conditioning to 'reduce' the number of deaths, and will slowly count them after the fire ends."
Zhu Feng, Executive Dean of the School of International Relations at Nanjing University and Executive Director of the Collaborative Innovation Center for South China Sea Research at Nanjing University, told Global Times, "Hawaii has many US troops stationed, but in the face of such a major disaster, the US military remains motionless and watches from the shore. At the same time, the US government has yet to propose a reconstruction plan, leaving homeless people on the sidelines. For nearly 20 years, the US has been discussing public safety and demanding that the value of human life be reflected in emergency laws. However, the recent Hawaii fire is a huge mockery of the US government's emergency and action capabilities."
