Desperate for answers, Maui locals turn to online database to hunt for the missing: ‘I check three times a day’

Locals in Maui are desperately clinging to hope that their family members will flip up protected greater than every week after devastating wildfires destroyed elements of Maui, killing at least 111 people.

They’ve launched on-line trackers, together with the “Maui Fires Folks Locator” Google spreadsheet and the “Maui Fires People Finder” Fb web page — in what’s turn into a grim and heartbreaking accounting of all these nonetheless lacking.

The comprehensive spreadsheet, launched on Aug. 8, has swelled to just about 6,000 entries, creating the go-to place for folks to relay any indicators of excellent information as officers proceed to comb by way of the ruined neighbors for signs of human remains.

Sharon VanGiesen, 60, of Sonoma County, Calif., is one such consumer on the lookout for her ex-husband, Michael Misaka, 61, who lived on Puiki Place in Lahaina.

“His house is gone, we all know that. He lived the place all of the properties are gone,” VanGiesen instructed The Submit Thursday. “That is day 9. We don’t know what to suppose.”

VanGiesen stated Misaka was native to Lahaina and a beloved bartender, along with his nervous household continually checking Erickson’s spreadsheet for any updates on the lacking father.

“I misplaced hope till final evening, when an outdated classmate of his instructed us he bought a textual content message from Mike on Thursday, saying he bought out and was [in] Upcountry. However then this particular person couldn’t discover the textual content message, so it’s unverified,” VanGiesen lamented.

“I textual content Mike each hour, hoping he’ll reply and say he’s protected.”

VanGiesen added that her daughter Megan has submitted her DNA to Hawaiian officials in case it may be used to establish him — ought to he be among the many lifeless.

Laura Hudelson, 73, from Florence, Ariz., is one other particular person desperately scanning the spreadsheet a number of occasions a day in hopes of discovering out what occurred to her son, Phillip, 56, a bartender who labored within the metropolis.

“We’ve known as the morgue, known as the jail, known as the hospitals, known as the Crimson Cross, spoken to the Maui Police Division and I’ve posted umpteen occasions on Fb,” Hudelson stated. “I’ve him on the record [the Google Doc] somebody put collectively, which I test thrice a day. I simply checked it then and it nonetheless says ‘not discovered.’”

Regardless of the dearth of updates, Hudleson says she’s making an attempt to stay optimistic, remembering that her son is all the time one to assist others and would’ve probably joined the native volunteer effort earlier than checking in at a shelter.

Staying optimistic, nonetheless, is proving to be more durable as the times go by with out an replace about Philip.

“I’m staying very optimistic, that’s all I can do at this level with out going utterly bonkers,” Hudleson stated. “Any person on Monday stated they noticed him strolling on Entrance Road, however that may’t be confirmed. It’s all rumour.”

The necessity for consolation was the precise cause why Ellie Erickson, of Kihei, created the spreadsheet within the first place.

“I actually hope it might turn into a spot the place folks questioning about their associates, their family members, in the event that they know any individual is protected, they will come onto right here and provides folks peace of thoughts,” Erickson, of Kihei, told KHON2 last week.

“I simply hope it helps folks come collectively and find folks sooner in order that they don’t should undergo 1000’s of feedback. It ought to simply streamline that course of.”

Erickson’s file permits folks to submit names and particulars about when their family members have been final heard from, with the spreadsheet repeatedly up to date when the particular person has been positioned by relations or officers.

The spreadsheet has additionally been promoted as a useful gizmo for residents by the Hawaii State Division of Well being provided that cellular phone protection on the island stays spotty.

Notably, scores of individuals have been confirmed discovered or nonetheless lacking by way of reviews filed at shelters for former residents of Lahaina, the historic metropolis that after housed greater than 13,000 and now lies in utter ruins.

With Hawaiian Gov. Josh Inexperienced beforehand stating that about 1,300 people remain unaccounted for, the state’s estimate seems to be greater than that of Erickson’s spreadsheet, which as of Thursday afternoon lists about 1,021 folks lacking.

Though unofficial, the spreadsheet appears to be the one factor involved family members can look to in the meanwhile as consultants warned that figuring out the our bodies of the deceased may take years given the fireplace’s destruction.

“That is very similar to what you see in a warfare zone or what we noticed on 9/11,” the governor instructed CNN, noting that solely 45% of the catastrophe zone has been searched with groups of 41 cadaver canine.

Maui County officers on Tuesday publicly named victims Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79. On Wednesday they recognized three extra aged victims: Melva Benjamin, 71, Virginia Dofa, 90, and Alfredo Galinato, 79.

With solely 5 victims publicly confirmed by the federal government, Hawaii officers have been urging individuals who have family members lacking to submit samples of their DNA to help with the identification course of.

Many whose family members have been residing in Lahaina on the time of the fireplace have since been seen going to police stations to submit DNA in hopes of at some point studying of their beloved one’s destiny.