マウイ島火災の2週間後、ラハイナの公立学校から2,000人以上の子供たちが行方不明に:レポート
マウイ島火災の2週間後、ラハイナの公立学校から2,000人以上の子供たちが行方不明に:レポート
クリスティン・テイラー
2023年8月24日 19:55
ハワイ州教育省は木曜日、マウイ島ラハイナの町を襲った8月8日の火災の後、2,025人の生徒がラハイナの公立学校で説明を受けていないとする報告書を発表した。ラハイナ学区を構成する小学校2校、中間学校1校、高校1校の計4校には、火災前、合計3,001人の生徒が在籍していた。各校は火災による被害で休校中で、小学校1校は大きな被害を受け、しばらく再開のめどは立っていない。他の3校は強風、瓦礫、煤煙による被害を受けた。報告書は、行方不明の子供たちの多くが火災で死亡したかどうか、あるいはその可能性については触れていない。
報告書によると、8月21日現在、8月8日時点で在籍していた3,001人の生徒のうち、538人が「他の公立学校に再入学」し、438人が「州の遠隔学習プログラム(SDLP)、英語およびハワイ語イマージョンに登録」しており、説明されていない2,025人についてこう述べている:「他の公立学校に再入学しなかったり、通信教育を選択しなかった生徒の残り(州外に引っ越したり、私立学校に入学した可能性がある)。
ホノルル・スター・アドバタイザー紙によると、マウイ島のある私立学校には、火災以来約1000人の新規入学希望者があったという。しかし同記事では、200人の生徒を抱える私立学校が火事で焼失したことも伝えている(抜粋):
政府関係者は、火災で死亡した児童の数について明らかにしていない。死者は115人、行方不明者は850人から1,100人である。行方不明と推定される人々のリストは公表されていない。
その日、ラハイナの小学生たちは、沖合のハリケーンによる強風のために家に留め置かれた。親は仕事中であったため、多くの子供たちが一人で家にいた。
AP通信は水曜日、火事から子供たちを救い出すことができたが、近所の子供たちを救うことができず、苦悩している父親について報じた(抜粋):
原文:
Over 2,000 Children Missing From Lahaina Public Schools Two Weeks After Maui Fire: Report
By Kristinn Taylor
Aug. 24, 2023, 7:55 pm
The Hawaii State Department of Education issued a report Thursday stating that 2,025 students are not accounted in the Lahaina public school system in the wake of the August 8 fire that ravaged the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. The four schools, two elementary, one intermediary and one high school that comprised the Lahaina school district had a total of 3,001 students enrolled before the fire. The schools are closed due to damage from the fires, with one elementary school heavily damaged and not likely to re-open for some time. The other three suffered damage from high winds, debris and soot. The report does not mention whether–or even the likelihood–many of the missing children were killed in the fire.
This image captured by the Landsat 8 satellite on Aug. 8 shows how flames engulfed large parts of Lahaina. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin)
Combined Joint Task Force 50 search, rescue and recovery elements conduct search operations of areas damaged by wildfires in Lahaina, Maui, Aug. 15, 2023. Members of CJTF-50 from the Hawaii Army and Air National Guard, Army active duty and Reserve are actively supporting Maui County authorities to provide immediate security, safety and well-being to those affected by the wildfires to ensure unwavering support for the community of Maui and first responders. Photo By:
Army Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Foster
The report states that as of August 21, out of the 3,001 students enrolled as of August 8, 538 have “re-enrolled in other public schools”; 438 have “enrolled in the State Distance Learning Program (SDLP), English and Hawaiian language immersion”; and says of the 2,025 not accounted for: “Remainder of students who have not re-enrolled in another public school or opted for distance learning (may have moved out of state, enrolled in private schools)”
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported one private school on Maui has received about 1,000 new applicants since the fire. However the article also mentioned a private school with 200 students had been destroyed by the fire (excerpt):
Meanwhile, Maui’s private schools also are in flux. Maui Preparatory Academy recently received a surge of about 1,000 applications for new openings the school made to accommodate displaced students, officials posted online this week. “We shuffled, rearranged the entire campus to welcome 110 new students (a 40% enrollment increase from last year). It is only a drop in the bucket. So many students not in classrooms today,” the school posted Monday on Instagram.
Sacred Hearts School has posted on its website that its campus faced a “devastating fire that has left our campus in ruins.” A Hawaii Association of Independent Schools report shows the school enrolled about 200 students.
Government officials have not been forthcoming on the number of children killed in the fire. Two weeks out they still only report 115 official deaths and anywhere from 850 to 1,100 people of all ages missing. Officials have not released a list of those presumed missing.
School children in Lahaina were kept home that day due to high winds from an offshore hurricane, with many home alone because their parents were at work.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday on a father who was able to rescue his children from the fire but is anguished because he wasn’t able to save his neighbors’ children (excerpt):
Many of the survivors are angry, and haunted by the thought that a just few minutes of notice could have saved many lives.
Baird’s neighborhood near Lahainaluna Road was filled with kids who were home alone when the flames hit, he said.
“We needed like 10 more minutes, and we could have saved a lot of kids,” he said, choking back tears. “If we’d just had like a 10- or 15-minute warning.”
The family ventured out to a Kahului mall recently, looking for a moment of normalcy in the aftermath of the tragedy. They ran into a playmate of their son.
“The kids just don’t have a filter. So their son ran up and was just telling our son, you know, ‘This kid is dead. This kid is dead.’ And it’s like, all my son’s friends that they come to our house every day,” he said. “And their parents were at work, and they were home alone. And nobody had a warning. Nobody, nobody, nobody knew.”
この記事が気に入ったらサポートをしてみませんか?