Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez donate $100m to Maui fire relief effort

Oprah has also joined in relief process

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez are pledging $100m towards relief efforts in Maui after a series of devastating wildfires.

“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 community that has been left devastated,” Ms Sanchez wrote on Instagram on Friday. “The immediate needs are important, and so is the longer term rebuilding that will have to happen – even after much of the attention has subsided. Jeff and I 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.”

Last year, Mr Bezos reportedly bought a 14-acre estate on La Perouse Bay for $78m, just 20 miles south from the damage zone in the recent wildfires.

Jeff Bezos (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

The Amazon billionaire isn’t the only high-profile figure joining in the relief effort.

Television mogul Oprah, who has lived part-time on a sprawling estate in Maui for the last 15 years, visited those sheltering at War Memorial Stadium in Maui on Thursday, handing out supplies she had purchased.

“I’m really pleased to have so many people supporting... bringing what they can and doing what they can,” she told reporters during her visit.

At least 59 people are dead and an estimated 1,000 are missing after fires, strengthened by drought and hurricane winds, tore through Maui earlier this week.

“One can safely say we do have wildfires every year but we’ve always been able to contain them,” Governor Josh Green told CNN on Friday. “Whether the variables are different this time or not, I’ve been in Hawaii for 23 years, but I have never seen the convergence of a fire, a hurricane, and gale force winds at the same time near one of our towns.”

Over 11,000 people have been evacuated as a result of the fires.

On Thursday, the Biden administration declared the wildfires, which burned areas across Maui, Hawai’i, and Oahu, a major federal disaster, freeing up additional relief resources.