Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Why Maui’s rebuilding effort will be so expensive
On August 8, a series of wildfires broke out in Maui, Hawaii, killing
over 120 people just in the town of Lahaina, and hundreds more are missing. The
wildfires also destroyed or damaged over 2,200 houses and buildings there. While
searching for unaccounted victims continues, rebuilding and repairing works
need to be taken up. But as Hawaii is isolated in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean, about 4,000 km from California, and is not self-sufficient, most construction
materials and items need to be shipped across the Pacific Ocean, which takes a
week or longer. Furthermore, doing business in Hawaii is around 30% more
expensive than in the mainland US on average, including the wage of construction
workers even before the wildfire. And it is not easy to bring in more workers
from the mainland because the cost of living, especially the housing is so
expensive there. Then there is surging and urgent demand for reconstruction and
repairs. You can imagine how expensive it will be to rebuild Maui when everyone
tries to do the same things at once. And remember, many people have lost their
jobs in the popular tourist destination. It is going to take some time to
rebuild the paradise both for the residents and even longer for tourists, who
are desperately needed for the local economy.
Read the article and learn about how costly it is to build and repair houses
in Hawaii.
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