ABC News announced a new reporting initiative earlier this week dubbed Maui Strong 808.
The Maui Strong 808 initiative will focus on the victims and communities piecing their lives back together following the catastrophic wildfires that spread across and devastated a significant portion of the Hawaiian island of Maui last month.
Set to take place on every eighth day of every month, commemorating the date the wildfires took place and Hawaii’s area code, Maui Strong 808 will provide in-depth storytelling and reporting across programs and platforms, chronicling the impact of the crisis, ongoing relief, and recovery efforts, and the strength and spirit of the local community.
Beginning this Friday, on the one-month anniversary since the wildfires took place, ABC News will report all across its programs and platforms on the youngest victims of the wildfires, the “Keiki,” the Hawaiian word for children or little ones. ABC News will tell the stories of the families, children, and teachers who have lost their homes and schools, illuminating how the youngest in the community are coping with their grief and healing as the schooling year begins.
Coverage will commence on GMA and continue throughout the day on GMA3: What You Need to Know, ABC News Live, World News Tonight with David Muir, World News Now, and Nightline.
ABC News correspondent Becky Worley will also reconnect with a family she met just days after the Lahaina fire as they work to pick up the pieces and determine the best solutions for housing and education. Worley, who grew up in Maui, will also report from Sacred Hearts Mission Church, where students from Sacred Hearts School at Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina were forced to relocate due to significant damage.
ABC News will report on a teacher whose former student and family members spanning three generations tragically perished in the fire and a mother living in a hotel room with her 6-year-old son, waiting for a new school to open.
In addition, ABC News Digital has launched an immersive storytelling page on ABCNews.com, detailing the events, aftermath, and recovery through photos, videos, graphics, and text. Stories on the recovery and rebuilding, the families and children impacted by the wildfires, and additional reporting and coverage can be found on the website.
ABC News says that over the next year, Maui Strong 808 will focus on different angles of the impact and recovery efforts from the wildfire using Hawaiian words as themes, an homage to the community’s deep cultural roots, their care for one another and the island, and their strength and resilience in moving forward, in addition to day-to-day coverage on news and developments around the wildfires.