you have taken everything for me. reporter: and the donations continued to pour and at this church behind me. hawaiians locals on the ground and jumped into action immediately they have a long tradition of helping themselves. many of them tell me they weren t going to wait for the government to save them. norah. norah: i heard that too, rudabeh shahbazi, thank you so much. one of those providing relief as longtime maui resident oprah winfrey who today promised a major donation after all of the smoke and ash has settled. she is not just providing aid, but also emotional support visiting people in some of the hardest hit areas. cbs s tony coble met oprah outside a shelter who have lost everything but hope. we find her at the entrance of the biggest evacuation shelter in maui county, still home to a thousand people and where oprah has been quietly visiting survivors. she wants us to hear some of the
and family that never left. reporter: and fema is asking family members to now submit to dna samples, only two of the victims have been identified so far. it is a process that could take several months. norah: so sensitive and painstaking, jonathan vigliotti, thank you so much paid getting food and supplies to those who need it most in lahaina is another challenge facing this island. but that s not slowing down the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. they are all pitching and trying to help their neighbors. reporter rudabeh shahbazi from our cbs los angeles station shows us tonight how this close-knit community is really pulling together. reporter: at doxed across the island, it is all hands on deck. small armies of residents are working and gained lines, with emergency supplies being shipped to maui s hardest hit areas. there is immense frustration.
as people head towards them hoping for some shelter. you can see from these pictures matresses have been brought in for people to sleep on. well one of the most famous residents of maui island is oprah winfrey and she s been meeting residents, and helping with the relief effort. 0ur reporter on the island, max matza, caught up with her. it isa it is a little overwhelming, but i am so pleased to have so many people supporting and people bringing what they can, so i came earlierjust to see what people needed, and then went shopping, because often you make donations of clothes under does not really people need. so i went and got things like shampoo, diapers, sheets. and got things like shampoo, diapers, sheets. oprah winfrey there. a short while ago, the cbs news correspondent, rudabeh shahbazi, gave us this update from kahului airport on maui. people have been sleeping here. a lot of them have been here for days,
reporter: and specialists are being flown to the island to help search through all of that ash that you saw. it is a tedious process that will take several months, and margaret, it will take many years before this community rebuild again. margaret: and the trauma will be with them. thank you for sharing their stories tonight. and with hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed, thousands of residents have been displaced with nothing but the clothes on their backs. authorities are setting up emergency shelters until more permanent housing can be made available. reporter rudabeh shahbazi from our cbs los angeles station is there with survivors. reporter: the devastation from tuesday s wildfires forced thousands to flee, as entire communities burned around them. my whole life in lahaina. my school, my job, like, just come in the blink of an eye, just, all gone. reporter: now, more than 2100 people are staying at six emergency shelters across the
this is devastating for maui. we probably have well over 1000 buildings that have been destroyed, many hundreds of families have been displaced. we will rebuild. the president has in atjust six hours, authorised and approved our request for emergency support, but it will be a long haul. a short while ago, the cbs news correspondent, rudabeh shahbazi, gave us this update from kahului airport on maui. people have been sleeping here. a lot of them have been here for days, three days in some cases. it is a pretty peaceful atmosphere considering what is going on and the chaos outside the airport. a lot of volunteers. the spirit of the hawaiian people on full display here. people coming in, still showing up to work, volunteers are passing out blankets, pillows and food and toiletries. we even saw some people in the bathroom basically showering in the bathroom because they are homeless for all intents and purposes as they try to get out of this island. really, there is nowhere to go.