Two Years After Maui Burned, Researchers Reveal the Wildfire’s True Death Toll

In August 2023, the power lines that were dropped on Maui, Hawaii set a fire in the wildfire that quickly exploded into multiple rapidly backed by strong winds. For several days, the fires reduced a large part of the town of Lāhainā to the ash, which led to the displacement of thousands and killed more than 100 people.

New research published on Thursday, August 22, in the climate journal Frontiers, indicates that this disaster has caused an increase in the level of population in deaths that exceed the seizure of the official death. By calculating excessive death rate on all causes-how many deaths that occurred over a certain period, which was expected-they found that specialists were in an increase of 67 % at the local death rate in August 2023. During the bloodiest fire week, the local death rate was 367 % higher than expected. The researchers concluded that these results emphasize the need to improve the alert of disasters that include environmental knowledge in the original Hawaii.

What reveals the excessive death rate

Looking at the excessive death rate showed a complete image of the fire. “Official numbers are often calculated direct causes, such as burns or smoke inhalation, but excessive deaths pick up [the] She explained that the real losses by informing us about the number of people who died more than expected in the month of Lāhainā fire.

Disasters such as forest fires often cause deaths indirectly affecting societies over time. Nakatsuka explained that clinics have been closed and preventing roads, people cannot re -fill medical prescriptions or obtain dialysis treatments. Stress and displacement can exacerbate chronic conditions, and energy failure or communication can delay emergency responses. “These effects are amplified in non -trap sets [are] “She has suffered inappropriately by weak groups, such as the elderly or colored people,” she said.

The tragic losses of Maoi fires

Even with this knowledge, Nakatsuka and her colleagues were surprised by the increase in excessive deaths during the month of August 2023. Their analysis included all the causes of death except for Covid-19. “While we expected an increase in excessive deaths, seeing more than 80 additional deaths in the month of Lahin’s fires were striking,” Nakatsuka said. “It was also surprising that we see that the percentage of those deaths that occur outside the medical environments were greater than expected.”

In fact, the number of deaths that did not occur in a medical context – such as the emergency room – from 68 % in the previous months to 80 % in August 2023. These people died in homes or public sites, indicating that many of them were unable to reach medical care due to fires.

Road

Although swimming excessive deaths are useful for linking increasing deaths with natural disasters, they provide an insight into the details of these deaths, explained by Nakatsuka. She said: “The main restriction here is that we cannot determine exactly deaths from fires or looking at the excessive deaths in Lāhainā; we can not only measure the total increase in deaths,” adding that future research must analyze death records along with medical and toxins reports to determine the causes of death.

However, these results reveal the need to improve the preparedness of disasters in Maui and invest in strategies to reduce forest fires rooted in original knowledge. She said: “The original Hawaiian practices are concentrated on Earth’s Care (Mālama ʻāina) in ways that naturally reduce fire risk, such as restoring original plants, maintaining various ecosystems, and managing water resources.” “The collection of original knowledge with modern climate prediction tools will reduce the risk of future climate crises and focus the voice of society in the heart of disaster prevention and recovery efforts.”