Metallica is donating $200,000 for emergency relief efforts during the wildfire catastrophe in Lahaina, Hawaii.
The Lahaina wildfire is the worst natural disaster to strike Hawaii in almost 70 years, and may yet surpass the 1946 tsunami’s death toll of 150. As of Wednesday, the official death count is 106, 1,300 are still missing, and the fires are still burning. Most of the seaside town, with a history going back to the 1700s, is charred rubble, down to the docks and boats in the harbor. And most of the bodies recovered have not been identified.
“The recovery’s going to be extraordinarily complicated, but we do want people to get back to their homes and just do what they can to assess safely, because it’s pretty dangerous,” Hawaiian Gov. Josh Green said in an interview.
The Maui Strong Fund, established by the Hawaii Community Foundation, is poised to help thousands of displaced Hawaiians pick up the pieces and prepare to rebuild their homes and businesses. The $200,000 donation from California hard rock band Metallica will go to them, to be given to those who need it most.
“We are heartbroken by the destructive wildfires devastating the historic town of Lahaina in Maui,” the band announced through the organization’s Instagram account on Friday, Aug. 11, the same day Metallica played a tour date in Montreal.
“The fund is currently providing resources, along with rapid response and recovery for the ongoing wildfires,” the band’s foundation, All Within My Hands, said in a statement. All Within My Hands, named for a song by Metallica, was founded in 2017, and as provided aid for the disastrous Camp Fire in California, firefighters in Australia, and fed Ukrainian refugees, as well as many other humanitarian efforts.
The estimated cost of the Lahaina fire, so far, is just over $3 billion. That is only based on what insurers are expected to pay out, which will only be a fraction of what is actually needed to rebuild.