2023-08-21 22:05:18
Joe Biden, taking on the role of “chief comforter” which he is accustomed to, arrived on the island of Maui in Hawaii on Monday, bereaved by catastrophic fires and where there is a certain bitterness in the face of the management of the drama by the authorities.
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The American president, interrupting his vacation in Nevada (west), landed a little after 11:00 a.m. local (21:00 GMT) in Maui, an island in the Pacific archipelago, with his wife Jill Biden.
After a helicopter flight over the devastated areas, he must meet families, rescuers and local officials.
Maui residents mourn at least 114 dead, and the toll could rise further as the difficult search operations continue, nearly two weeks after the fires.
“It’s going to be an emotionally charged day,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Dalton said when asked how the 80-year-old Democrat will be received by the families and rescue teams he receives. planned to meet.
“It’s not clear that Biden will get a warm reception from some groups in Maui,” warned the Star Advertiser, a Honolulu newspaper.
“The president has been there from day one to lead a response that involves the entire federal government,” added Olivia Dalton, in response to some criticism from the Republican opposition.
Joe Biden, who has made compassion his great political marker, to the point of being described as America’s “chief comforter”, is being criticized for not having spoken enough publicly about the disaster.
The right in particular has widely shared on social networks images dating back a week. Joe Biden, relaxed, returning from the beach, is questioned by a journalist on the increasingly heavy toll of the fires. “No comment,” he says only before getting into the car.
The American president has since multiplied press releases and promises of aid.
The White House also emphasizes that it took barely an hour to declare, on August 10, a state of major natural disaster in Hawaii, at the request of local authorities.
The Democrat will also appoint a federal coordinator for the reconstruction work, which promises to be titanic.
A thousand people have not yet been located, some of whom could add to the death toll.
Critics also relate to the response of local authorities.
The presidential visit will take place just days after the resignation of the head of Maui’s crisis management agency, accused of not having sounded the alarm sirens during the deadly fire that ravaged the city of Lahaina (12 000 inhabitants), on the west coast of the island.
Taken aback, some residents had thrown themselves into the sea to escape the flames.
“Would I have liked the sirens to sound? Of course,” Gov. Josh Green said Sunday, while explaining that they were “historically” not used for fires, but for tsunamis and hurricanes.
Faced with the rumbling feeling of abandonment, Joe Biden must not repeat the mistakes of his predecessors. If these visits to the population are a must after a disaster, they can prove harmful to the presidential image.
A photo of President George W. Bush flying over Louisiana without landing there after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 had become a symbol of a disconnected administration.
Donald Trump was filmed casually tossing paper towel rolls during a visit to Puerto Rico after a hurricane in 2017.
The Hawaii fire is already the deadliest in more than a century in the United States. And the final balance sheet could be much heavier.
About 85% of the affected area was covered by “an army” of rescuers and sniffer dogs, searching for bodies in the rubble, Josh Green said Sunday.
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