Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
As the White House announced last week, President Joe Biden visited Maui on Monday to observe the damage and recovery from the devastating wildfires on the Hawaiian island that began earlier this month.
Upon arrival, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden greeted Gov. Josh Green with hugs after exiting Air Force One.
After taking an aerial tour on Marine One, lBiden, Green and other elected officials walked down Front Street in Lahainawhich is still littered with charred rubble.
However, different voices criticized the late visit, since The president arrived nearly two weeks after ferocious windswept fires claimed the lives of more than a hundred people.
At the second stop on the tour, Biden was met by a long line of first responders, including a police officer who gave the president an envelope.
The president, who reflected on his own emotions after the death of his first wife Neilia and their daughter Naomi in a car accident in 1972, He said he felt the pain of the hundreds of people who lost their loved ones in the fires and who are still waiting for news. about missing friends and family.
“The difference between knowing someone has left and worrying if they are available to come back are two different things,” he said during a news conference during the tour.
“To the people of Hawaii, we will be with you for as long as it takes, I promise you… God bless all those we have lost, God find those we have not yet determined, and God bless you all.”
On the ground in Lahaina, the president surveyed the damage and heard firsthand from firsthand responders and local leaders. He also met with the elders of the community.
“We’re focused on what’s next, which is rebuilding for the long term, rebuilding for the long term, and doing it together to help us recover,” the president said.
“Rebuild the way we want to rebuild, making sure their voices are heard, but respecting their traditions, understanding the deep history and meaning of this hallowed ground, and establishing their community not to change its character, but to reestablish it.” sentenced.
Finally, in Lahaina, The President announced that he will appoint Bob Fenton, the Regional Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency responsible for Hawaii.to spearhead the federal response to Maui.
Keep reading:
· Biden will travel to Hawaii after fire disasters; Several families 850 people are still missing after the wildfires in Hawaii were affected
Government adds more than 3.8 million dollars for those affected by fires in Maui
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez pledge $100 million to help Maui wildfire recovery