lokiduck

The Fallen
Mar 27, 2019
9,162
Washington
www.bbc.com

Hawaii fires: Jason Momoa warns tourists not to visit Maui

The actor says Hawaii is "not the place" for a holiday, as locals say tourists carry on as normal while tragedy unfolds.

I shouldn't be surprised that it needs to be said at all, but who tf vacations to a disaster area? Why the hell is "disaster tourism" even a thing?
Disaster tourism has been a thing as old as time. It's why Jack the Ripper tours, Salem, Donner Lake, and rich people wanting to see the titanic remains is a thing.

People have extensively talked about when something becomes okay for disaster tourism (most seem to agree when most of the victims family are dead) but you also see a lot less waiting before people go and see the disaster too.

However this has always been the case as it's why people went to public executions, people gawk as they drive past car wrecks, and the battle of Gettysburg had a live audience.

People are naturally morbidly curious, but one would hope that most people have more tact and respect for the victims and know when it's inappropriate to visit.

Clearly anyone participating in disaster tourism with Maui right now is not one of those people.
 

Boondocks

Member
Nov 30, 2020
2,715
NE Georgia USA
Disaster tourism has been a thing as old as time. It's why Jack the Ripper tours, Salem, Donner Lake, and rich people wanting to see the titanic remains is a thing.

People have extensively talked about when something becomes okay for disaster tourism (most seem to agree when most of the victims family are dead) but you also see a lot less waiting before people go and see the disaster too.

However this has always been the case as it's why people went to public executions, people gawk as they drive past car wrecks, and the battle of Gettysburg had a live audience.

People are naturally morbidly curious, but one would hope that most people have more tact and respect for the victims and know when it's inappropriate to visit.

Clearly anyone participating in disaster tourism with Maui right now is not one of those people.

I was listening to NPR news this morning and a Hawaiian state senator said they would prefer tourists keep coming or quite a few people will lose income and these people need the income.
 

teruterubozu

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,162
It is so extremely complicated. Hawaii has had an extreme-love/extreme-hate relationship with tourism/capitalism since forever. These kinds of tragedies just magnify the issue.
 

SuperBanana

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,792
User Banned (3 days): Inappropriate commentary in a sensitive thread
Really sucks to see people posting this kind of nonsense

It really sucks that people blatantly ignore real world statistics. 80% of all revenue in Maui is directly or indirectly feom tourism. The island exists as it does soley due to tourism.
 

Urban Scholar

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,604
Florida
This is horrible. What's the cause?

Is this where Sonic 2 was filmed?

I say these things sincerely or be offended, I don't care.

1. Read, it's in the OP as the cause was linked. This is serious matter and you can't be bothered to click on a link???????

2. Where Sonic was filmed? People dead and land burned and you thinking about where a movie was filmed?????????????

*do better*
 

RobotHaus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,059
Mars University
I was listening to NPR news this morning and a Hawaiian state senator said they would prefer tourists keep coming or quite a few people will lose income and these people need the income.
It's a frustrating system in place. They need tourism to survive because it's overtaken the rest of the state. Ideally this could be an opportunity for the state to diversity it's industries of income, but it's going to take outsiders to help.

I know tourism will never not be an industry in a location as beautiful as Hawaii, but to give the locals more would be wonderful.
 

lokiduck

The Fallen
Mar 27, 2019
9,162
Washington
I was listening to NPR news this morning and a Hawaiian state senator said they would prefer tourists keep coming or quite a few people will lose income and these people need the income.
Yeah that is also what's contributes to disaster tourism as well unfortunately.

It seems pretty clear the state and citizens don't agree with whether to shut down tourism right now or not, but allowing it will def encourage it.
 

Soi-Fong

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,497
Illinois
It is so extremely complicated. Hawaii has had an extreme-love/extreme-hate relationship with tourism/capitalism since forever. These kinds of tragedies just magnify the issue.

It's definitely complicated. You have multiple generational families holding multi-million dollar homes and properties that they just rent out that leads to the housing problem as well. There's a lot of issues w/ tourism, but a lot of the blame also lies w/ locals as well. I don't know how many times I've heard "investment properties" when Hawaii is in the conversation.

There's been a lot of calls for legistlation, for example to prevent homes and properties being bought if it's not a primary home. Guess who opposes it? (Hawaiian politicians who own multiple properties as well as generational families)
 

Primus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,946
There's been a lot of calls for legistlation, for example to prevent homes and properties being bought if it's not a primary home. Guess who opposes it? (Hawaiian politicians who own multiple properties as well as generational families)

3 years ago, when COVID shut down the state, we were given a golden opportunity to do something about our over-reliance on tourism. Everyone talked a good game for a few weeks, then went right back to "well we need to open up the state again first because people are hurting".

I'm not holding my breath that this will be any different.
 

Thordinson

Banned
Aug 1, 2018
18,592
It really sucks that people blatantly ignore real world statistics. 80% of all revenue in Maui is directly or indirectly feom tourism. The island exists as it does soley due to tourism.

This is not because Native folks want it to be. You realize this, yes? It's far more complicated than citing a statistic.

The island and the Native folks there existed long before tourism and Capitalism.
 

SuperBanana

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,792
This is not because Native folks want it to be. You realize this, yes? It's far more complicated than citing a statistic.

The island and the Native folks there existed long before tourism and Capitalism.

I am aware, I have several friends who live on Maui, including that of native background and I've traveled there many times. One of them has a street named after their family. None of them hate tourism or think that way. Just like any other group of people, native folk are not homogeneous.
 

teruterubozu

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,162
3 years ago, when COVID shut down the state, we were given a golden opportunity to do something about our over-reliance on tourism. Everyone talked a good game for a few weeks, then went right back to "well we need to open up the state again first because people are hurting".

I'm not holding my breath that this will be any different.

Of course there are Islands like Niihau, Molokai and Lanai where the people manage to live outside of the mega-tourist network. But yeah Maui and Oahu are basically not far removed from California as far as Mainland influence and kind of past the point of no return. Ain't nobody going back to hard taro farming on Maui.
 

Carn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,112
The Netherlands
It's a frustrating system in place. They need tourism to survive because it's overtaken the rest of the state.

Yeah it boggles the mind. Not wanting to derail the thread, but I once talked to a barkeep in Bourbon Street (New Orleans) who told me that after Katrina they we're still searching for bodies a few blocks away; while many bars tried to re-open in some form. It's totally morbid.
 

Coyote Starrk

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
54,173
Just a heads up for anyone trying to read about this elsewhere online the entire tragedy has been hijacked by the Right and conspiracy theorists to attack Biden and the government.


This includes potentially distressing videos that are unrelated to the fires. So click carefully.
 

Uzumaki Goku

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,803
Just a heads up for anyone trying to read about this elsewhere online the entire tragedy has been hijacked by the Right and conspiracy theorists to attack Biden and the government.


This includes potentially distressing videos that are unrelated to the fires. So click carefully.
What for?!

...don't answer that. Sigh
 

Thordinson

Banned
Aug 1, 2018
18,592
I am aware, I have several friends who live on Maui, including that of native background and I've traveled there many times. One of them has a street named after their family. None of them hate tourism or think that way. Just like any other group of people, native folk are not homogeneous.

I've not said they are. I've said many times that it's a complicated relationship. Your friends think one way and my family and friends think another.

More often than not, the folks most affected and most vocal about overtourism, often tourism in general, are Native folks.

Of course there are Islands like Niihau, Molokai and Lanai where the people manage to live outside of the mega-tourist network. But yeah Maui and Oahu are basically not far removed from California as far as Mainland influence and kind of past the point of no return. Ain't nobody going back to hard taro farming on Maui.

What's insane is that two of three you mentioned are privately owned, Niihau and Lanai.
 
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teruterubozu

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,162
I've not said they are. I've said many times that it's a complicated relationship. Your friends think one way and my family and friends think another.

More often than not, the folks most affected and most vocal about overtourism, often tourism in general, are Native folks.



What's insane is that two of three you mentioned are privately owned, Niihau and Lanai.

And their populations are very small and almost entirely Native Hawaiian. In fact Hawaiian is the only language spoken in Niihau. Do the billionaires help sustain their livelihoods? Sure. But they are critical in sustaining the disappearing Hawaiian culture.
 

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,139
I haven't been following this. Has the Biden admin responded about this? Have they sent any relief?
 

teruterubozu

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,162
One thing that was discussed a lot on Maui during the COVID shutdown was making the Island more "exclusive." Like making the flights and hotels only affordable for the wealthy and phasing out all the AirBnB/condos/rentals for the regular Joes (who are more prone to "exploring" than lounging). The only thing would be a giant resort area - like Wailea - where tourists arrive and never leave that area - a Disneyland for the wealthy, while the rest of the island is left alone. Ah COVID, good times.
 

Neutrality

Member
Oct 29, 2017
296
Guys we're still pulling bodies out of houses here.
Can we move on from this petty bullshit re: tourism and if it's okay for some people to grieve or whatever.
We can discuss the impacts of colonialism later yeah, we all know it was fucked how our government pointed canons at the Queen and stole these lands.
Let's just deal with recovery right now.
Just gets irritating to read after a while. I get the heart is in the right place, just isn't the right time.
 

Thordinson

Banned
Aug 1, 2018
18,592
And their populations are very small and almost entirely Native Hawaiian. In fact Hawaiian is the only language spoken in Niihau. Do the billionaires help sustain their livelihoods? Sure. But they are critical in sustaining the disappearing Hawaiian culture.

I meant that its just crazy to me that the islands are privately owned.

Guys we're still pulling bodies out of houses here.
Can we move on from this petty bullshit re: tourism and if it's okay for some people to grieve or whatever.
We can discuss the impacts of colonialism later yeah, we all know it was fucked how our government pointed canons at the Queen and stole these lands.
Let's just deal with recovery right now.
Just gets irritating to read after a while. I get the heart is in the right place, just isn't the right time.

This doesn't happen without the impacts of colonialism so I think it's fair to discuss.

But if folks rather I don't and it's increasing pain, I'll take the discussion elsewhere.
 

teruterubozu

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,162
Guys we're still pulling bodies out of houses here.
Can we move on from this petty bullshit re: tourism and if it's okay for some people to grieve or whatever.
We can discuss the impacts of colonialism later yeah, we all know it was fucked how our government pointed canons at the Queen and stole these lands.
Let's just deal with recovery right now.
Just gets irritating to read after a while. I get the heart is in the right place, just isn't the right time.

Apologies for the sidetracking - I agree we need to be more sensitive about what's happening on the ground level. Unfortunately here on the Mainland the pervasive conversation and in the media (like the Momoa article above) has turned into "to go or not to go" and tourism. It sucks and I feel helpless for my family and friends at home. My sister has set up go-fund-me pages for our friends who lost everything. I've been donating to those but watching from a distance has been tough and the mind wanders.
 

Eien1no1Yami

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,338
My heart goes out to all the Hawaiian people that got affected by the disaster, this is indeed really heartbreaking

I'm from Greece and we have many fires each year a few of them resulting in many human casualties in the past.
For the last couple of years we have established a mechanism (funded by the EU) where an sms message is sent to every citizen's phone that is close to a region considered to be dangerous, due to a coming natural phenomenon (earthquake, fire, tornado etc) by the Ministry of Civil Protection and contains instructions depending on the situation.
Is there something similar in the US for situations like these?

Having so many people dead and even more missing is a huge disaster and cannot be attributed just to the insane weather conditions (strong wind, high temperatures).
Climate change is here to stay so Goverments should try to adapt to this new situation and place better mechanisms in order to prevent as much damage as possible from disasters like this especially preventing the loss of any life.
 

teruterubozu

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,162
My heart goes out to all the Hawaiian people that got affected by the disaster, this is indeed really heartbreaking

I'm from Greece and we have many fires each year a few of them resulting in many human casualties in the past.
For the last couple of years we have established a mechanism (funded by the EU) where an sms message is sent to every citizen's phone that is close to a region considered to be dangerous, due to a coming natural phenomenon (earthquake, fire, tornado etc) by the Ministry of Civil Protection and contains instructions depending on the situation.
Is there something similar in the US for situations like these?

Having so many people dead and even more missing is a huge disaster and cannot be attributed just to the insane weather conditions (strong wind, high temperatures).
Climate change is here to stay so Goverments should try to adapt to this new situation and place better mechanisms in order to prevent as much damage as possible from disasters like this especially preventing the loss of any life.

Maui has a tsunami warning siren system throughout the island. It is extremely loud and they test it once a month. For some reason the sirens weren't activated, and people are wondering why.
 

Kisaya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,198
This instagram page has Venmo links directly to families in Lahaina:

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
 

nilbog

Movie Aficionado
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,440

Primus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,946
Maui has a tsunami warning siren system throughout the island. It is extremely loud and they test it once a month. For some reason the sirens weren't activated, and people are wondering why.

There's two competing theories right now. The first, espoused by the chief of the MPD (so it could be ass-covering and finger-pointing) is that because the head of the local Civil Defense was off-island, there was no one who could authorize the sounding of the sirens. The second is that the infrastructure for sounding the sirens had already been cut off thanks to the earlier fires and downed power lines, and while the majority of the sirens do have a backup method of sounding, that required a Civil Defense worker to manually get to each siren and turn it on, which was totally unfeasible due to the fire's fast movement. Good chance those worker(s) would have succumbed to smoke and flames.
 

mrmoose

Member
Nov 13, 2017
21,536
My heart goes out to all the Hawaiian people that got affected by the disaster, this is indeed really heartbreaking

I'm from Greece and we have many fires each year a few of them resulting in many human casualties in the past.
For the last couple of years we have established a mechanism (funded by the EU) where an sms message is sent to every citizen's phone that is close to a region considered to be dangerous, due to a coming natural phenomenon (earthquake, fire, tornado etc) by the Ministry of Civil Protection and contains instructions depending on the situation.
Is there something similar in the US for situations like these?

Having so many people dead and even more missing is a huge disaster and cannot be attributed just to the insane weather conditions (strong wind, high temperatures).
Climate change is here to stay so Goverments should try to adapt to this new situation and place better mechanisms in order to prevent as much damage as possible from disasters like this especially preventing the loss of any life.

What happens if the cell towers are knocked out, though (or did that happen much later)?

The Hawaiian Electric rep was asked why they didn't immediately shut off the power when the winds were high like they do in CA when there's a fire, and they said something like they're not equipped with the same system and it would endanger a lot of the families who rely on power. Like if all the power goes out and the cell phones are out, I'm not sure how you're going to get communications. Hopefully the alarm system has it's own generator, same for the necessary buildings like firefighters and hospitals, but given they didn't even have water pressure I'm not sure.

Also seems like the rumors of looting were exaggerated, police chief said there were no calls (one guy got arrested for trespassing)
 

mrmoose

Member
Nov 13, 2017
21,536
There's two competing theories right now. The first, espoused by the chief of the MPD (so it could be ass-covering and finger-pointing) is that because the head of the local Civil Defense was off-island, there was no one who could authorize the sounding of the sirens. The second is that the infrastructure for sounding the sirens had already been cut off thanks to the earlier fires and downed power lines, and while the majority of the sirens do have a backup method of sounding, that required a Civil Defense worker to manually get to each siren and turn it on, which was totally unfeasible due to the fire's fast movement. Good chance those worker(s) would have succumbed to smoke and flames.

That first one seems eerily similar to that other mistake in 2018 when those missile sirens went off because of one employee. I really hope that this "only one person can authorize the alarms" was not an overreaction to that.
 

Cat Party

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,639
Interesting account here showing how bad the winds were and how fast the fire was moving at 3pm. No sirens, and I'm surprised how bad it was that time of day compared to later that evening when people were barely getting out. It feels like with sirens and a working alert system, more people could have gotten out in time.


View: https://www.tiktok.com/@isla_trip/video/7267075908589161770?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7252000512437700138

This video (and some other similar ones I've seen) really emphasize how incredibly fast this tragedy developed. No one really had any inkling they were about to be in the path of a firestorm until it was on their heels.

As is sadly typical in wildfire tragedies like this one, emergency warnings systems were not sufficient. Whether its because of a lack of prompt action, or because of damage from high winds (or most likely both), they were simply not up to the task. The same failings were exposed in the Camp Fire (which destroyed Paradise, CA) in 2018. Better systems are needed for areas that are prone to dry conditions and high winds.
 

Ernest

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,712
So.Cal.
Insurance companies are gonna try their hardest to label this an "act of god" so as to not pay out , aren't they?
 

Eien1no1Yami

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,338
What happens if the cell towers are knocked out, though (or did that happen much later)?

The Hawaiian Electric rep was asked why they didn't immediately shut off the power when the winds were high like they do in CA when there's a fire, and they said something like they're not equipped with the same system and it would endanger a lot of the families who rely on power. Like if all the power goes out and the cell phones are out, I'm not sure how you're going to get communications. Hopefully the alarm system has it's own generator, same for the necessary buildings like firefighters and hospitals, but given they didn't even have water pressure I'm not sure.

Also seems like the rumors of looting were exaggerated, police chief said there were no calls (one guy got arrested for trespassing)

I'm sorry I'm confused a little bit.
Are you taking about Hawaii or my country?
If it's the latter, it works even without any coverage or cell phone signal, you don't even need to have a SIM card on the phone or internet or anything like that.
 

mrmoose

Member
Nov 13, 2017
21,536
I'm sorry I'm confused a little bit.
Are you taking about Hawaii or my country?
If it's the latter, it works even without any coverage or cell phone signal, you don't even need to have a SIM card on the phone or internet or anything like that.

I was talking about Hawaii but now I'm curious how it works in your country. It's very likely that I just have no idea how cell phones work, they don't need a cell signal at all to send an alert?
 

Eien1no1Yami

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,338
I was talking about Hawaii but now I'm curious how it works in your country. It's very likely that I just have no idea how cell phones work, they don't need a cell signal at all to send an alert?
Yes exactly, unfortunately I don't know the exact details but that's how it works apparently.
Also it's not just my country but other EU countries too.
I know for sure that Portugal uses the exact same system too.
Maybe someone from PortugalEra, SpainEra, ItalyEra can chime in and share more details if they know..
 

Distantmantra

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,385
Seattle
Interesting account here showing how bad the winds were and how fast the fire was moving at 3pm. No sirens, and I'm surprised how bad it was that time of day compared to later that evening when people were barely getting out. It feels like with sirens and a working alert system, more people could have gotten out in time.


View: https://www.tiktok.com/@isla_trip/video/7267075908589161770?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7252000512437700138


That video is heartbreaking and also shows the power of the winds and fire moving as quickly as it did. The Tiktok account mentioned how Lahaina was without power early on, including Front Street. It sounds like there were still a good number of people down on Front Street when the flames finally got there. Is that correct?

I was talking about Hawaii but now I'm curious how it works in your country. It's very likely that I just have no idea how cell phones work, they don't need a cell signal at all to send an alert?

I think it's like if you have an old phone that no longer has paid service you can still call emergency services on it (ie. 911) but you can't call any other number. If you've got an old iPhone or Android phone lying around in a drawer, you can call 911 no problem. You'd still need a functioning cell system to receive the warning or call 911, though. If the cell towers/infrastructure is already destroyed you're not calling out and having anything get in.
 

mrmoose

Member
Nov 13, 2017
21,536
I think it's like if you have an old phone that no longer has paid service you can still call emergency services on it (ie. 911) but you can't call any other number. If you've got an old iPhone or Android phone lying around in a drawer, you can call 911 no problem. You'd still need a functioning cell system to receive the warning or call 911, though. If the cell towers/infrastructure is already destroyed you're not calling out and having anything get in.

Ah, ok, that makes sense, you don't need paid cell service for emergency alerts but you do need functioning cell towers. Got it.
 

Primus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,946
That video is heartbreaking and also shows the power of the winds and fire moving as quickly as it did. The Tiktok account mentioned how Lahaina was without power early on, including Front Street. It sounds like there were still a good number of people down on Front Street when the flames finally got there. Is that correct?

Yes. High winds had taken down 30+ power poles in Lahaina over the course of Tuesday prior to the fires.
 

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,610
Kinda nuts that people are still going.
My company has three properties on Maui, all untouched by the fire. All they did was put out a strong suggestion that people don't go; still accepting reservations and didn't blanket cancel & refund.

As long as these companies are still letting people go even though they outright state that internet and cell service is going to be non-existent, tone deaf asshats are still going to pack suitcases without a second thought.
 

spam musubi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,421
That video is heartbreaking and also shows the power of the winds and fire moving as quickly as it did. The Tiktok account mentioned how Lahaina was without power early on, including Front Street. It sounds like there were still a good number of people down on Front Street when the flames finally got there. Is that correct?



I think it's like if you have an old phone that no longer has paid service you can still call emergency services on it (ie. 911) but you can't call any other number. If you've got an old iPhone or Android phone lying around in a drawer, you can call 911 no problem. You'd still need a functioning cell system to receive the warning or call 911, though. If the cell towers/infrastructure is already destroyed you're not calling out and having anything get in.

This new iOS feature is the exception though, it can place SOS calls through satellite

www.macworld.com

How an iPhone 14 ‘literally’ saved a family trapped in the Hawaii wildfires

Family rescued after using Emergency SOS via satellite.
 

Distantmantra

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,385
Seattle