Maui’s wealthiest resident Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren Sanchez have said they will donate $100 million to help victims of the Maui wildfires.
In a statement from Sanchez, she said, “Jeff and I are heartbroken by what is happening in Maui. We think of all the families who have lost so much and of a community left devastated.
“The immediate needs are important, as is the longer-term reconstruction that will have to take place even after much of the focus has been lost.
“Jeff, I am establishing a Maui Fund and dedicating $100 million to get Maui back on its feet now and in the years to come as ongoing needs unfold.”
Bezos owns real estate in the islands alongside stars like Oprah, Larry Ellison, Clint Eastwood and Steven Tyler.
In a statement, the billionaire couple announced they would be starting a fund to get the island back on its feet after the disaster, pledging $100 million.
An aerial image taken Aug. 10 shows wrecked cars in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii
The hall of the historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and the nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission go up in flames along Wainee Street
Lauren Sanchez, Bezos’ fiancée, posted on Instagram that the fires “broke her heart” before they were announced.
The 59-year-old Amazon CEO owns a three-building estate on La Perouse Bay on Valley Isle in Maui worth an estimated $78 million.
With a net worth of $162 billion, he is the third richest man in the world.
Oprah, worth $2.5 billion, owns nearly 2,000 acres of land on Maui and has lived there part-time for 15 years. It is unclear whether her land was damaged.
She bought up the most recent lot – 860 acres – in March of this year for $6.6 million. Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler also has a home on the island, as do Owen Wilson and Clint Eastwood.
The fire in Maui is the worst natural disaster to hit Hawaii since a tsunami killed 61 people in 1960. If the death toll continues to rise as expected, it will surpass that grim record and become the deadliest.
It is also on track to become the deadliest wildfire in recent US history. In the past 100 years, the California campfire alone has claimed more lives than recorded to date, with a total of 68 victims.
A thousand people remain missing in Maui after Tuesday’s catastrophic fire, which has claimed 55 so far. The death toll is expected to rise as search teams search homes, or what’s left of them, for victims.
When the fire engulfed Lahaina, a town on the island, cell phone towers were set on fire, along with all other buildings.
It means the city is left without telephone service, there is also no internet, water or power and, crucially, rescue teams cannot come to help.
“We as a local non-profit don’t even have access to anything west of Maalaea. West Maui is completely cut off from communications and power. That’s very fluid, but that’s what we’re seeing on a hyperlocal level,” said Lauren Henrie of Maui Rescue Mission CNN.
In this image obtained from the United States Department of Defense, Honolulu Fire Department vehicles and personnel are secured on a C-17 Globemaster III on August 10, 2023 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii
Wildfire Wreck will be shown on Thursday, August 10, 2023 in Lahaina, Hawaii. Hawaii emergency management records show no indication warning sirens sounded before people ran for their lives as wildfires on Maui wiped out a historic town
Maui’s part-time residents include Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Steven Tyler, Owen Wilson, and more. Larry Ellison owns almost the entire island of Lanai, which is near the city of Lahaina
An aerial view shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground around the harbor and Front Street in the historic city of Lahaina
Michael Havoc Thomas, a military veteran who owns and operates HAVOC, a private rescue and training company in Hawaii, gave a harrowing description of the reality of the devastation.
“The news won’t be able to show you the real survivors or the real victims. They are very World War II flamethrowers and Vietnam napalm-esque. That’s not an exaggeration.’
Bezos bought the three-building estate on La Perouse Bay on Valley Isle in Maui, Hawaii, for an estimated $78 million.