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Death toll from Maui wildfires climbs to 55; 1 000 still missing

By: Natasha Archary

Maui wildfires
Image: Pixabay

Maui wildfires death toll climbs to 55, with 1 000 more people still missing, in what is being described as one of Hawaii’s most devastating natural disasters.

The historic town of Lahaina has been completely gutted, with some 1 700 homes burnt to the ground.

Maui mayor, Richard Bissen says it would take billions to rebuild the beautiful tourist attraction.

Dry conditions and strong winds from Hurricane Dora are believed to be the catalyst behind the wildfires that engulfed Maui.

Since the beginning of August, most of Maui has been experiencing abnormally dry conditions, which escalated on Tuesday, 08 August to severe drought levels, making the island more susceptible to wildfires.

On Thursday, 10 August, 53 people were confirmed dead, but the number climbed to 55 in the late evening, after two more bodies were discovered.

The death toll is expected to rise even further as search and rescue operations begin amongst the ash.

More than 11 000 people have been evacuated, and another 2 000 are expected to leave by Friday, 11 August.

Some families had no other option but to dive into the ocean to escape the wildfires that consumed everything in its path within minutes.

Footage on social media shows cars and boats exploding along the harbour.

While officials say it’s too early to tell how many people remain unaccounted for, an estimated 1 000 people are reported missing.

“Those who are unaccounted for have not been presumed dead, because there’s no communication at the moment, it could be that they managed to evacuate to safety, but we have no way of confirming at this stage.”

Cellphone, internet, power and telephone lines are down and this could take weeks to restore.

Also read: No jail time for Zuma thanks to special remission of prison sentence

Written by: Natasha



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THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT FORMS PART OF KAYA 959’S TERMS OF USE POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY TERM OF THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT, YOU MUST CEASE YOUR ACCESS OF THIS WEBSITE IMMEDIATELY. 

POPIA ActTo promote the protection of personal information processed by public and private bodies; to introduce certain conditions so as to establish minimum requirements for the processing of personal information; to provide for the establishment of an Information Regulator to exercise certain powers and to perform certain duties and functions in terms of this Act and the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000; to provide for the issuing of codes of conduct; to provide for the rights of persons regarding unsolicited electronic communications and automated decision making; to regulate the flow of personal information across the borders of the Republic; and to provide for matters connected therewith.

RECOGNISING THAT—

  • section 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, provides that everyone has the right to privacy;
  • the right to privacy includes a right to protection against the unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information;
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AND BEARING IN MIND THAT—

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AND IN ORDER TO—

  • regulate, in harmony with international standards, the processing of personal information by public and private bodies in a manner that gives effect to the right to privacy subject to justifiable limitations that are aimed at protecting other rights and important interests,
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1.1.“Personal Information” means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person and where it is applicable, identifiable, existing juristic person, including all information as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. 

1.2  Parliament assented to POPIA on 19 November 2013. The commencement date of section 1Part A of Chapter 5section 112 and section 113 was 11 April 2014. The commencement date of the other sections was 1 July 2020 (with the exception of section 110 and 114(4). The President of South Africa has proclaimed the POPI commencement date to be 1 July 2020.

 
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1.4. “Website” means the website of the KAYA 959 at URL www.kaya959.co.za or such other URL as KAYA 959 may choose from time to time.   

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2.1. KAYA 959 respects your privacy. This privacy policy statement sets out KAYA 959’s information gathering and dissemination practices in respect of the Website. 

2.2. This Privacy Policy governs the processing of personal information provided to KAYA 959 through your use of the Website. 

2.3. Please note that, due to legal and other developments, KAYA 959 may amend these terms and conditions from time to time.  

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3.2.2. KAYA 959 will only process personal information in a manner that is adequate, relevant and not excessive in the context of the purpose for which it is processed. 

3.2.3. Personal information will only be processed for a purpose compatible with that for which it was collected, unless you have agreed to an alternative purpose in writing or KAYA 959 is permitted in terms of national legislation of general application dealing primarily with the protection of personal information. 

3.2.4. KAYA 959 will keep records of all personal Information collected and the specific purpose for which it was collected for a period of 1 (one) year from the date on which it was last used. 

3.2.5. KAYA 959 will not disclose any personal information relating to you to any third party unless your prior written agreement is obtained or KAYA 959 is required to do so by law. 

3.2.6. If personal information is released with your consent KAYA 959 will retain a record of the information released, the third party to which it was released, the reason for the release and the date of release, for a period of 1 (one) year from the date on which it was last used. 

3.2.7. KAYA 959 will destroy or delete any personal information that is no longer needed by KAYA 959 for the purpose it was initially collected, or subsequently processed. 

3.3. Note that, as permitted by the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002, KAYA 959 may use personal information collected to compile profiles for statistical purposes. No information contained in the profiles or statistics will be able to be linked to any specific user.    

  1. Collection of anonymous data

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4.2. KAYA 959 may utilise temporary or session cookies to keep track of users’ browsing habits. A cookie is a small file that is placed on your hard drive in order to keep a record of your interaction with this website and facilitate user convenience. 

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4.2.2. The following classes of information may be collected in respect of users who have enabled cookies: 

4.2.2.1. The browser software used; 

4.2.2.2. IP address; 

4.2.2.3. Date and time of activities while visiting the website; 

4.2.2.4. URLs of internal pages visited; and 

4.2.2.5. referrers. 

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  1. Links to other websites

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  1. Queries

7.1. If you have any queries about this privacy policy please contact us by emailing [email protected]