helping the bushfire victims

There have been several appeals in the last couple of days for goods (clothes, toiletries, toys for kids, etc) to help the bushfire victims and the massive response has been heartening. A local radio station here organised some trucks to head to Victoria and they received so many donations they couldn't fit them all in. A couple of emergency centres in Victoria have similarly had to request that people stop bring donations of goods and instead focus on blood and money donations to the Red Cross.

Nothing is going to make this a good situation, but it's still amazing to see the immediate and compassionate response. I'm not usually one to put in a good word for big business (only $1 donated from each Big Mac on McHappy Day, McD's? And how much profit do you make out of the remainder of the price as a result?) however I want to applaud Coles supermarkets. Coles is not only providing water, food and other necessities, but this Friday ALL of their profits for the day are being donated to the Bushfire Appeal. They are not only giving up the day's profit, but of course will also lose some sales from other days that week because people are waiting to shop on the Friday. Yeah, it's just one day, but they didn't have to do it and it's a LOT of money.

If you're in Australia I hope you can find a way to contribute. I'm donating to the Red Cross. I also need to find out where the blood bus is today and hopefully donate blood, too. The last couple of times I had the chance to donate blood I was taking antibiotics and couldn't, but luckily this time I'm not even on hayfever medication. Good timing.

life in the sunburnt country

As of this morning there were 31 bushfires raging across the state of Victoria. People in our Melbourne office have lost friends amongst the climbing death toll, currently sitting at 126 and expected to double as fire crews locate more of the dead who failed to escape ahead of the firefront. An estimated 750 homes have already been lost with entire townships burned to ruins.

Bushfire is a constant of the Australian summer. When I went to the coast recently we had to check the morning we left that the highway had not been closed due to the fires burning near that area. On the way back we saw smoke/visibility warnings, but the road was still open. The weather channel has a regular bushfire update. Two days ago there were five fires on the map and that seemed normal.

But every few years things get worse. The last big bushfire disaster was in 2003 when around 500 homes in Canberra were destroyed (one of the major causes why rent is artificially high here). However, just four people died. Significant for their families and friends of course, but statistically a very small number compared to the number of residential homes lost - obviously people evacuated successfully. That isn't what's happening right now. The fires are spread out over a wide area and some people are waiting too long to put their fire plan into action.

Worst still, and the thing I just cannot get my head around, is that not only have several of these fires been deliberately lit, but there are people in some areas going into devastated areas and relighting fires. What the hell could be going through their minds? This is not simple carelessness, or a prank gone wrong. This is people who already know the death toll deliberately trying to widen the field of disaster.

There are just some things that people living in a hot, dry land should never do and wasting water and lighting scrub fires are on the top of the list. Causing death via arson carries a maximum 25-year jail term, and I hope they catch every last one of them.


To end on a brighter note, I heard a story of a shiftworker sleeping through the day who was saved by his cat. The cat jumped on the bed and scratched his hand until he woke up. Then the man heard the commotion outside. He realised what was happening, grabbed the cat, ran outside to jump onto an evacuation vehicle and they both survived the fire. He lost his house, but that's still a happy ending in my book.