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Hawái es el estado más propenso a incendios de EUA infographic
El gráfico muestra desastres hawaianos por tipo.
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DESASTRES

Intensificación de desastres amenaza al paraíso hawaiano

By Ninian Carter

August 17, 2023 - Hawái, que el resto del mundo percibe como un paraíso tropical,
es cada vez más susceptible a desastres naturales.

Hawaii, often imagined as paradise on Earth, has become increasingly prone to disasters such as hurricanes, flash floods, mudslides, lava flows, lingering droughts and earthquakes.

But it is wildfires that are escalating the most, according to analysis of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) records by the Associated Press.

In August, the federal government declared six fire disasters in Hawaii — the same number recorded in the state between 1953 and 2003. Burned areas in Hawaii have increased more than five times since the 1980s.

Looking at it another way, data supports that from 1953 to 2003, Hawaii averaged one federally declared disaster, of any type, every two years. Now it averages more than two a year.

And it’s even worse for wildfires, with Hawaii going from averaging one federally declared fire disaster every nine years or so, to one a year on average since 2004.

Hawaii has by far the most federally declared fire disasters per square kilometre of any U.S. state, becoming the number one cause of Hawaii’s federally declared disasters.

As well as climate change, transforming land use and the plants that catch fire are to blame, according to the University of Hawaii.

Since the 1990s there has been a big decline in plantation agriculture and ranching, with millions of hectares of crops replaced with grasslands that burn easily and fast.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 17/08/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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