SAN FRANCISCO: Billionaire Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez have announced a $100 million fund to help with recovery efforts for the wildfires in Maui, Hawaii.
Eighty people were confirmed to have been killed by wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui, according to officials, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the state’s history.
In an Instagram post late on Friday, Sanchez wrote that they “are creating a Maui Fund and are dedicating $100 million to help Maui get back on its feet now and over the coming years as the continuing needs reveal themselves”.
“Jeff and I are heartbroken by what’s happening in Maui. We are thinking of all the families that have lost so much and a com-munity that has been left devastated.
The immediate needs are important, and so is the longer term rebuilding that will have to happen - even after much of the atten-tion has subsided,” she added.
According to earlier reports, Bezos purchased a 14-acre estate on La Perouse Bay for an estimated $78 million last year. The bay is less than 20 miles south of fires in South Maui. (IANS)
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