[Ailist] Off Topic - Victorian bushfire update [long post]

[Sue James]

Hello everyone ...

First of all, I'd like to express my heartfelt appreciation and 
gratitute to all those who have replied to my original post privately. I 
have answered those emails individually, but would like to say a very 
public thank you!

Secondly, there have been some common questions people have asked, so I 
thought I'd send an update for everyone, in case others are also interested.

One question related to why there were so many deaths. The current 
official death toll is 181, and it's expected to climb much higher - 
possibly to 300. This is a devastating count for areas with such a 
sparse population. For example, one of the places destroyed by fire is a 
small country town called Strathewen, where 30 people are confirmed dead 
from a population of only 200. When you think about it, this is the 
equivalent of one person dead out of every 6 or 7 who were living in 
your community - a devastating figure. In addition to the death toll, 
there are many more who are injured and at least 5,000 people left 
homeless.

Why did this happen?  The main reason was apparently the incredible 
severity of the weather conditions, particularly after such a long 
period of drought/dry weather. The fires were therefore worse than has 
ever been experienced before - here in Victoria and possibly in Australia.
At one point strong winds were driving flames, which were more than 20 
metres high, almost parallel to the ground at unprecendented speeds. A 
kind of 'cosmic flamethrower' effect, that simply consumed everything in 
its path more quickly than mere human efforts could prevent.

Victoria has had a 'leave early or stay and defend' policy in relation 
to bushfires - which has served well on previous occasions. In other 
words, either leave your home well in advance of the fire threat, or 
stay and defend your home with all the fire-safety and fighting methods 
recommended. For example, hosing down the whole house, blocking all 
downpipes and filling the gutters with water, having a safe area within 
the house - and of course being sure in the off season that the area 
surrounding your home is clear of all trees and undergrowth etc. And 
there are lots more steps to take than I am aware of, as I'm not one of 
the highest bushfire danger areas myself so don't receive all the 
information and advice from the authorities that people living in those 
areas receive.

However this time all the very best precautions were apparently no match 
for the very extreme weather conditions and the ferocity of the fires. 
People who have survived speak of 'fireballs' consuming their homes. 
Many who stayed to defend - and have done so successfully in previous 
bushfires - finally had to flee. And of course that is one of the most 
dangerous things to do when fires are raging around you.  This has been 
one of the reasons for the policy to leave early or stay and defend 
...being in a car on a road during a bushfire is so incredibly risky. 
Many of those who perished were in their cars - forced to flee at the 
last moments, after their efforts to prevent the fires consuming their 
homes had failed. Authorities also believe that some of the people found 
as passengers in cars had been picked up by others who were also 
fleeing. They had probably been in one of the cars that were found to 
have run off the road (probably due to the thick smoke), or had caught 
fire in turn. (So some of the bodies my not be identified, as those 
people were not in their homes and not in their own vehicles. )

So, as you may imagine, there will be a review of the "leave early or 
stay and defend" policy, in the light of the climate changes that are 
apparently affecting the nature of the bushfires themselves. There is to 
be state government commission enquiry into the bushfires, investigating 
many aspects of how Victoria will deal with bushfire prevention, action 
and response etc. It's anticipated this will be a twelve-month process 
overall.

Another question people have asked is "apart from our prayers, how can 
we help?"   There is already a great deal of help coming into Victoria 
from governments in other states in Australia, and from elsewhere (for 
example President Obama's commitment of support.
So far the main call has been for blood donations and donations of 
clothing, food, tents etc - all those things required to respond to the 
immediate and urgent needs of those who are injured and homeless. For 
those not in Australia, this kind of support is not very practical ... 
unless you want to fly down to our Red Cross blood donation centres or 
commission a freighter to cart goods around the world. :-)  

However I do know that any amount of money that can donated, however 
small, can definitely help.  I've called the Australian Red Cross, who 
are handling the main Victorian Bushfire Appeal, and have been told that 
their online donation form will accept international credit card 
donations, although there is no specific information to say so on their 
website.  The link for those who may be interested is 
https://www.redcross.org.au/Donations/onlineDonations.asp

Although all the above information may seem incredibly downbeat, there 
is as always an 'up side', even in the midst of such devastating 
losses.  Along with stories of devastation and loss, there are stories 
of resilience, hope etc ... And a post to the AI list wouldn't be 
complete without sharing some of these too. :-) So I thought I'd share a 
few stories that possibly haven't made it into the international media.

For example, the story of Sherrill and Bill Cart, who were reunited in 
the burns unit of a hospital:   http://tinyurl.com/cat6cf 
<http://tinyurl.com/cat6cf>

Or Rodney and Leila Pitt-Wood , also reunited when each had thought the 
other had perished in the fires: http://tinyurl.com/b5n2xb
Rodney's comment at the end of that article is also a wonderful 
testament to the resilience of the human spirit: "I think you've got to 
get over that. We've been scared, but it's like everything else, don't 
let it beat ya." :-)

As you may know, parts of Queensland have been very badly flooded - in 
some areas, they had only just cleaned up after one major flood when the 
copped another. Many families lost many of their possessions and 
furniture - everything that was downstairs in some cases. Families are 
crowding into flood relief centres to get help with clothing, food etc. 
How is this related to a bushfire story? Because so many of those 
receiving government flood relief funding are immediately donating it to 
the Victorian Bushfire Appeal!  As one woman said in an interview, "Ok, 
we've lost a lot of stuff ... but it's just 'stuff'. Those poor buggers 
down there have lost their homes, their friends. At least we're all ok 
and we still have a house."

And here's an amazing story about Daniel Moss, whose home was a caravan 
- and who has now donated that home to a family who lost theirs in 
Flowerdale (another township that no longer exists apart from the local 
hall and school which survived.). Daniel is now homeless himself, but 
figures it will be much easier for him than for a family.  
http://tinyurl.com/c9h9en

Daniel said ... "I had Mental Health come up to me, saying that I might 
need some help. I don't think it's Mental Health's business. I don't 
think Mental Health need to concern themselves."  And as the newspaper 
article comments: "It's a strange reflection of society when a gesture 
such as his is considered the action of a madman. To Mr Moss, giving 
away his home was the most rational and humane thing he could do."

Last one ... :-) ... Many of you may of course have seen this picture 
(taken by Michael Rebecca) of a firefighter giving a koala a drink, as I 
believe it made it into international news: 
http://www.bjseminars.com.au/images/helpinghand.jpg
But if you'd like to watch the video of this, you can also visit: 
http://tinyurl.com/bbsck2

And to highlight the amazing nature of that particular story ...  
Contrary to popular belief, koalas in the wild are not cuddly friendly 
creatures.
They will normally fiercely defend themselves against humans, and have 
powerful claws that will take a big chunk out of you if you get too close!

Finally, my apologies for such a long post! But I wanted to provide an 
update for folks, and also share those inspiring and heartwarming 
stories. :-)

Warmly
Sue




-- 
Sue James
Facilitator & Consultant
Ph: +613 9758 2528
BJ Seminars International
inspiring and connecting people
www.bjseminars.com.au