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Australian Wildfires - Toll Nears 200

The wild fires are for the most part contained and controlled, but some are still burning. The death toll – 181 and still climbing.

In addition to those killed, more than 500 people were injured, nearly 1,000 homes were destroyed, thousands were left homeless and 365,000 hectares (901,935 acres) of the Australian countryside have been burnt black.

News that some fires may have been deliberately set brought a note of disgust from Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. “What do you say about anyone like that?...There's no words to describe it, other than it's mass murder."

Tent cities sprung up around Whittlesea, just north of Melbourne, as relief agencies pitched camps for those forced out of their homes. Weekend bushfires "completely wiped out" the towns of Marysville and Kinglake, officials said.

Frustration also brewed as residents desperately wanted to return to their homes, or what was left of them, but were prevented by authorities because of safety concerns.

The toll from Saturday's inferno has grown day by day. Victims included 78 year old Brian Naylor, a former newsreader who reported on the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983, some of the worst devastation the country has seen. Rescue workers say they found the bodies of Naylor and his wife Moiree in their home in the small town of Kinglake West.

The need for humanitarian aid is expected to be great, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd laying out the costs of the fires before Parliament.

"The seventh of February will become etched in our national memory as a day of disaster, of death and of mourning," Rudd said, as he announced that offers of assistance had poured in from around the world, including from France, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

Wildfires are an annual event in Australia, but the unprecedented carnage wrought by the fast-moving infernos, called the worst ever by police, have shaken and surprised the nation.

This year, a combination of factors has made them especially intense: a drought, dry bush and one of the most powerful heat waves in memory. Victoria authorities have banned the use of barbecues and any equipment that might spark a fire.

Source : CNN.com

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