Wildfires in Hawaii: Government criticized for ‘blocking’ delivery of drugs like insulin and allowing residents to communicate via ‘coconut wireless’ – as 416 FEMA employees help search for remains and shelters for people

Maui residents have criticized the federal response to devastating wildfires that have devastated parts of the Hawaiian island, claiming locals have been left to coordinate parts of the recovery themselves.

Deliveries of supplies such as medicines have been held up by bureaucracy, while authorities have also failed to communicate with residents displaced by the fire, it is alleged.

Criticism of the response comes after authorities also failed to issue proper warnings to locals about the advancing wildfires last week. Residents have said emergency sirens did not go off and cell phone alerts came too late.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green has directed the state’s attorney general to review the fire response.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has about 416 people on the scene, including dozens who work in shelters to help displaced people whose homes have been destroyed.

The fires broke out on Tuesday last week and quickly spread, largely destroying the historic city of Lahaina, where thousands of buildings burned down. The death toll stood at 96 as of Monday afternoon and is expected to at least double as searches continue, while FEMA estimates the cost of the damage is more than $5 billion.

“FEMA has a permanent logistics distribution center in Hawaii and immediately after the incident began moving goods such as food and water, protective masks and shelter equipment to Maui to support the State of Hawaii,” said Jeremy Greenberg, the director of FEMA’s Bureau for response and recovery.

“I know this is just the first step in a difficult recovery process.

“This will certainly have a long-term recovery aspect, but that’s why FEMA and the entire federal government are working with the state to prioritize getting everyone affected by this the help they need.”

But locals on Maui claim it’s taken too long to restore communications cut by the fire, saying officials also haven’t told people how to access key services.

Josh Masslon, a Maui resident, said, “Where are the county officials? No one has internet – I just found out you can’t drink the water.

“Communication has been nil.”

Charities, churches and other local groups have stepped in to close the gap left by federal agencies, some locals said. Support ranged from providing shelter and supplies to distributing cooked meals.

Cord Cuniberti, a volunteer helping with the recovery, said the island relied on “coconut cordless,” a Hawaiian slang term for word of mouth.

He told the Honolulu Star Advertiser: ‘Nobody knows what’s going on here.’

Maui gym owner Paul Romero told the outlet, “It’s an incredible dichotomy.

“There is an outpouring of local support, boots on the ground, exhausting our personal resources to support our ohana in the most basic of ways.

“The response from our well-funded, tax-paid government is incredibly pathetic. We can’t even understand what they did, what they didn’t do, what they still don’t do.’

Jacquelyn Ingram, of the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, who also provided assistance, told the Guardian it was a “slow response,” adding, “I think people will continue to be upset.”

Kai Lenny, a professional surfer, said civilians led the recovery efforts because “no one else is helping.”

He told the Washington Post that his efforts to bring 100 pounds of insulin to Maui were blocked by state officials who said he did not have proper authorization.

“It’s ironic that the people we put in government to actually help us make it harder for us to even help ourselves,” he said.

On Saturday, officials said they had searched only 3 percent of the search area in Lahaina. Gov. Green said the death toll is likely to rise by “10 to 20” a day as searches continue for about 10 more days.

The Hawaiian Department of Defense said teams will “go street by street, block by block between cars, and soon they’ll start entering buildings.”

The Hawaii National Guard has more than 110 personnel assisting the search and rescue operation of state and federal officials.

The governor will hold a news conference Monday at 3:30 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. ET).

Green said Sunday he was frustrated after reports that the Maui’s emergency warning system, including sirens and cell phone alerts, allegedly failed to adequately notify residents that fires were rapidly engulfing Lahaina.

“We are heartbroken that people were unable to escape or were not warned. We are already working on a review. My attorney general, I asked her to do it. Not to find fault with anyone, but to say why this worked and this didn’t work,” he said.

“It’s definitely a natural disaster because the winds were moving — any fire between 60 and 80 miles per hour. That’s a mile a minute.’