US President Joe Biden said Monday the First Lady Jill Biden and he were on our way to Hawaii following the devastating wildfires.
“We’ll meet with first responders, spend time with families and community members, and witness what will be required for the community to recover,” he wrote on his X account as they were aboard Air Force One. “Throughout our efforts, we are focused on respecting sacred lands, cultures, and traditions. — We have already distributed over USD 8.5 million to residents of Maui (island in Hawaii State).
“USD 3.6 million of that is for direct rental assistance, and this is from 8,000 registrations, so 8,000 families that have registered for assistance. “We continue to have more than 1,000 federal responders on the ground, and this is from dozens of federal agencies, departments and agencies,” President Biden noted.
“The number I did get last night was 85 percent of the area that — has been searched. I continue to provide the president updates on what the response efforts are. And he always says what else can we do, and we continue to move more resources in,” he added.
Meanwhile, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Deanne Criswell reassured the residents about claims of some developers are trying to buy their land, saying, “the governor has committed verbally — that he’s not going to let that happen”. “And we are going to be there to support the governor and — and the city of Maui — or the county of Maui and Lahaina in how they want to rebuild,” she added.
Source: Kuwait News Agency