The president promised federal government would support the island after deadly wildfires, but residents say the response is scattershot and insufficient

As Joe Biden toured the devastated town of Lahaina and met with survivors of the deadly wildfires that swept through Maui last month, he vowed that the federal government would support the island throughout the long and arduous recovery process ahead.

“The country grieves with you, stands with you, and we’ll do everything possible to help you recover, rebuild, and respect culture and traditions when the rebuilding takes place,” the president said. “To the people of Hawaii, we’re with you for as long as it takes, I promise you.”

But Maui residents who are struggling to find long-term housing and keep their businesses afloat have found the federal response so far to be scattershot and insufficient. On the national stage, prominent Republicans have mocked Biden’s actions to assist Maui, even as Democratic officials in Hawaii have commended the whole-of-government response effort. And climate experts agree that the White House has coordinated a robust response, but they fear Biden has not gone far enough to address the broader crisis.

As Biden himself has acknowledged, the effectiveness of his response in Maui will not be measured in days and weeks but in the months and years to come.

“The work we’re doing is going to take time. In some cases, a long time,” Biden said Wednesday. “We’re not leaving until the job is done.”

Now Biden must convince the people of Hawaii that he can deliver on that promise. And the stakes are high, as history shows that a president’s response to an environmental disaster can come to define their legacy.

A search for federal help

On the ground in Maui, the federal government faced criticism almost immediately. Displaced and weary residents expected to quickly see a major response to the disaster that had left thousands without homes and killed 115 people, making it the deadliest US fire in more than 100 years. Instead, they witnessed a response effort led by neighbors, local businesses and community groups.

“We don’t feel like outside help, massive outside help from the government, is coming,” Ana Carolina Penedo, a resident of Lahaina, told the Guardian in the days after the disaster.

The disaster on Maui is still unfolding. Thousands have been displaced by the fire and are scrambling for housing and financial assistance. The impacts have been felt across the island as tourism has abruptly dropped, hitting businesses and workers hard.

In the immediate days after the wildfires, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) offered loans for small businesses, housing support and one-time $700 payments to those affected by the fire. As of Monday, the Biden administration has approved $15.5m in assistance to more than 4,100 households, according to Fema.

In addition, Biden announced on Wednesday that the federal government would provide $95m in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve Hawaii’s electric grid, as he simultaneously urged Congress to approve another $12bn for Fema’s disaster relief fund to assist Maui and other communities affected by extreme weather.

But Maui residents say the federal relief they have received so far is hardly enough for residents to get by in America’s most expensive state. Penedo, who escaped the fire by seeking refuge in the ocean for 12 hours, lost her home, vehicle and job. The trauma of that day has had profound effects on her.

“I don’t have income, I don’t have a place. It would be amazing to have a place, so I can start long-term rebuilding, but how can I get a place if I don’t have income?” she said. “I will have to go back to work, but I’m having panic attacks. I am grieving, I am in a really deep sadness.”

Penedo is currently staying in an Airbnb with her mother and five-year-old son, which was arranged by state officials. She received a $700 payment, but Fema denied her request for housing assistance. Penedo said the staff instead directed her to apply for a small business loan but she’s hesitant about going into debt: “On top of everything I lost then I have a debt to pay?”

‘No comment’

Although many local residents are not yet feeling the benefit of federal aid, Democratic officials in Hawaii say the Biden administration has been effective and efficient in its response to the wildfires. When Biden visited Hawaii last week, his Democratic allies thanked him for his work so far.

“We in Hawaii have been through hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions,” Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat of Hawaii, said during Biden’s visit. “But we have never seen such a robust federal response.”

The comments offered an implicit rebuke of the Republicans who had questioned Biden’s response to the wildfires, condemning the president’s decision to take a vacation in his home state of Delaware as Maui’s search for survivors continued. After spending his afternoon relaxing on the beach, a reporter asked Biden for his response to the island’s mounting death toll. “No comment,” Biden replied.

The White House later said Biden had not heard the reporter’s question, but that clarification only came nearly two weeks after Republicans had started pillorying the president over his apparent apathy. In a video posted to his social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump – Biden’s likely opponent in next year’s election – attacked Biden’s behavior as “disgraceful”.

“To say no comment is oftentimes fine, but to be smiling when you say it, especially against such a tragedy as this, is absolutely horrible and unacceptable,” the former president said.

Trump’s criticism of Biden’s actions in Hawaii struck Democrats as all the more absurd because of the former president’s own record. A spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, Ammar Moussa, tweeted out a reminder that Biden approved Hawaii’s major disaster declaration immediately upon receiving the request from the governor’s office. The tweet also included a link to a report on how the Trump administration blocked $20bn in relief funding for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria devastated the territory in 2017.

“I do think that it’s really important that in moments like this, presidents are able to jump to respond,” said Aru Shiney-Ajay, a spokesperson for the youth climate group Sunrise Movement. “But the hypocrisy of a statement like that was astounding to me, given the ways that Republicans have minimized disasters [and] still continue to not even acknowledge the causes of disasters like these.”

The road ahead in Maui and beyond

Republicans have indeed shown more reluctance in acknowledging how the climate crisis has made disasters like the Maui wildfires more common and more severe. Scientists estimate that wildfires have become 80% more likely due to global heating caused by the mass burning of fossil fuels.

Biden has fallen short in his efforts to address those underlying issues, climate experts argue. The White House often boasts that Biden signed the most significant climate bill in US history, the Inflation Reduction Act, but the president has also approved additional oil and gas projects, breaking his campaign promise of “no more drilling on federal lands”.

“The real goal here right now is for him to actually tackle the root cause of the climate emergency, which is fossil fuels,” said Jean Su, director of the energy justice program at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I think that’s the disappointing part overall about his [Maui] response. On the one hand, absolutely we need emergency response to help people get back into homes, to get them electricity, to get them water … And at the same time, he keeps drilling for fossil fuels.”

Climate groups have repeatedly called on Biden to declare a climate emergency, which could aid communities hit by extreme weather, but the president has refused to do so. Biden stoked more ire among activists earlier this month, when he claimed he had “practically” declared a climate emergency.

“Biden declared Maui to be a major disaster, and that is an important step,” Shiney-Ajay said. “But actually, we need to lay the groundwork by declaring a climate emergency so that the full force of our economy and the federal government in particular can sort of be unleashed to prepare for disasters like this again and again.”

This summer has provided alarming evidence of the importance in responding to the climate crisis. In addition to the devastating wildfires in Maui, hurricanes brewed earlier than normal. Flooding has upended Vermont. Arizonans have struggled through weeks of record-high temperatures. Canada’s wildfires have brought dangerous air conditions to the midwest and east coast.

“There have been so many horrific tragedies this summer alone,” Su said. “The United States has been ground zero for climate assaults. And in that way, I think it is the universe telling the United States that it has a particular role in this climate emergency.”

‘A reality check’

As climate activists push for change at the national and global level, the extensive and exhausting recovery process continues in Maui. Biden has pledged that the federal government will continue to support the island, but residents don’t know what that will look like, or if it will be enough for them to get by as the island rebuilds and returns to some kind of normalcy.

Judi Riley, who owns a local car rental company and has been heavily involved in local volunteer efforts, said customers have canceled reservations all the way out to January. While recently meeting with federal disaster response workers, they warned her the recovery would take years.

“This is not weeks, this is not months, we’re talking years. I’m getting a reality check,” she said. “We have to feed our families in the midst of the crisis.”

Penedo, meanwhile, said her state-coordinated housing arrangement will end in early September and she’s not sure where her family will go next. She is taking things one day at a time, she said, and relying on help from the community for food and basic necessities.

“I gave up with Fema, and I’m having to figure it out myself,” she said. “I was hoping the government would take initiative to help. In my case, I didn’t get any help and I don’t even know why.”

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