Please Pray for Aussie Bushfire Victims

sardsy75 · Post by **sardsy75** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:36 am

Hey all

Don't know what you've been seeing on international news.

Victoria, the southern eastern mainland state of Australia has been ravaged by vicious bushfires and firestorms for the past few days.

The official human death toll is at 107 and rising. Most bodies being found in cars which were caught in the firestorms.

{Edited to update death toll} The official human death toll is now 131 and rising. 5:35pm AET 9th Feb 09

Whole towns have been wiped off the map ... literally. Nothing left except ash and rubble; street by street by street.

There are countless burns victims overloading the hospitals to the point that some hospitals are running out of precious supplies such as blood and morphine.

We all thought the Ash Wednesday fires that happened in the 1980's were bad; this has become the worst fire disaster in Austrlian history.

What makes it even worse is that arsonists have lit most of the fires and just when the firies think they've gotten one under control, it's RE-lit by the same idiot.

If you could spare a moment to say a prayer or just send a thought via the moon to the people of Victoria, their families and friends around Australia, it would be greatly appreciated.

If anyone has a spare dollar they could donate, The Australian Red Cross has set up an appeal for help.

This is a rolling blog where people are posting constantly, looking for friends and family. Click on the "PLAY" button to watch the rolling blog.

Anyone who wants a half decent news page to read go to http://www.news.com.au

Thanks for your time.

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:10 am

Nadia, I read about this; what a terrible situation. Truly awful. I hadn't read that arsonists were relightling them...that is truly horrific.

sardsy75 · Post by **sardsy75** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:44 am

ViewsAskew wrote:Nadia, I read about this; what a terrible situation. Truly awful. I hadn't read that arsonists were relightling them...that is truly horrific.

To put it simply Ann, there are residents around this country who, if they catch up with the arsonists first, WONT be ringin the authorities in a hurry!

When it was discovered that fires were being re-lit, the true Aussie Fighter in all of us was lit.

I don't get angry very often ... but i'm furious at what these people have done to our precious Country and it's country.

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:47 am

Each time I see the story, the death toll rises. The last article I read said that they were making it a vast crime scene...

That's truly is awful. I just can't fathom what motivates some people...

Post by **Polar Bear** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:17 am

Yes, Nadia, I was watching this on the news and thought of you.
We are thinking of everyone down there who is near the fires, has lost anyone. It is a terrible time.

SquirmingSusan · Post by **SquirmingSusan** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:55 am

How horrible.

And arsonists relighting the fires. That's just too evil to be real.

And at the opposite extreme of climate tragedies are the ice storms in the US which have caused the deaths of at least 42 people, and left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.

Rubyslipper · Post by **Rubyslipper** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:23 pm

I had just heard of the fires and thought of you. I was hoping that it hadn't affected you physically but I guess something that horrible affects you anyway. Please take care, I will be praying for all of you.

sardsy75 · Post by **sardsy75** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:12 am

Hi all

Well, I was my own worst enemy earlier. I turned the tv on after doing the school run, and was mesmorised and horrified at the scenes flashing in front of me. But they, apparently are far from the worst!

The police have put a no-fly zone in place over one particular area due to the horrific scenes they've encountered on the ground.

The death toll is now 173, and includes many children. Authorities expect it to go over 200.

The fires are still raging. At one of the safe sites, where one of the tv crews is based, everyone has one eye in the air as the smoke could be seen growing thicker and thicker, and the winds were picking up as the reporter was talking.

Whole towns/villages are gone ... wiped out.

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What I have neglected to mention is that the the very northern end of Queensland is in flood and has been for at least three weeks. They've copped two cyclones and the monsoon trough hasn't done them any favours by sitting over their heads dumping torrential rain either.

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So ... we're waterlogged in the far north of Australia (QLD ... Cairns, Townsville, Ingham) ... and in the south we've got one in a million super firestorm.

It's as tho Mother Nature has something against us this year.

As I type, its pouring rain; and Gladstone is nowhere near either of the disasters.

It's just not fair!

Post by **Polar Bear** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:37 am

We have seen people being interviewed on the news programmes.
those who have lost children.......... there seems to be no fit words...

sardsy75 · Post by **sardsy75** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:55 am

Totally agree with you Betty ... words just can't describe it. The scenes we're being showed on every channel at every possible chance the news networks can get, are just beyond description.

The police DO have a suspect and I pray that God has Mercy on his Soul because he's going to need it.

I feel even worse now as we've had 125mm (approx 5in) of rain here today; and there's more on the way.

When I was just out clearing the path for the water, I had a chat to my neighbour and we both said if we cud, we'd bucket it up and send it south.

The death toll is now 181.

There is one survival story that has amazed people. One couple have a wine cellar built into the ground; kinda like a bunker, on their property.

Anyhoo, they had been putting bits and pieces down there when the wall of fire came for them and they both scrambled down the ladder and shut the hatch.

The hatch was a little piece of square steel just big enough to cover a hole that allowed one person down at a time. The husband was still in disbelief when he told of the hatch glowing red for hours and all they could do was sit there and wait for everything to cool down.

Needless to say, they did tuck into a few bottles of wine ... and i don't bloody well blame them!

SquirmingSusan · Post by **SquirmingSusan** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:25 pm

Wow. You're damn right, I'd be drinking the wine down there as well. Amazing story.

My daughter always says "God hates Australia." I'm sure that's not literally true, but sometimes ya gotta wonder. She was saying there are warnings to watch out for crocodiles in some of the cities. If you could just get the rainwater to the brushfires...

It's all so unbelievably horrifying.

sardsy75 · Post by **sardsy75** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:42 pm

LOL ... the croc signs are true.

There's a sign at every boat ramp here in Gladstone, as well as in Rocky where I used to live, along with all the coastal towns.

Dunno what we did to peeve the Big Man off, but we've got some of the world's deadliest snakes and spiders roamin around.

The kangaroos are at epidemic proportions.

But it's the koala's that keep comin up in the news. One news report today caught on camera, a Country Fire Authority team giving their own drinking water to a Koala they'd found.

Arsonist is now plural ... arsonists ... hope the Cops find them first!

SquirmingSusan · Post by **SquirmingSusan** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:13 pm

That's my daughter's point - the snakes and spiders, and now this! OTOH, koala bears sure are cute looking, although I hear they can be mean little critters. And I love wallabies, but I'm not sure those are in Oz or in NZ, or both. Hmm.

Anyway, I hope the fires are getting under control somehow.

Post by **ViewsAskew** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 6:31 am

Nadia, I just saw a headline that an arrest had been made.

sardsy75 · Post by **sardsy75** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 2:11 am

Yes, Ann

A 39 year old man has been arrested for only ONE of the fires, that caused 12 deaths. Included in his arrest was Child Pornography. I've just read that the Police are moving him to another location for his own safety.

I ALSO read with absolute disgust that numerous VOLUNTEER Firefighters have been sacked by Fosters ... one of Australia's largest beer manufacturers.

There is no method to this madness!

I'm thousands of kilometre's away, yet when I read that people are losing their jobs whilst trying to save their home or that of a friend or neighbour it just makes me cry and feel sick to the stomach. That is not the Australian way!

I know a lot of you don't know much about Cricket, but there was a match on between Australia & New Zealand on Tuesday. Both teams donated their match fees, and whichever side won donated the winning cheque. The Commonwealth Bank donated $100 for every run that was scored and $5000 for every 6 that was hit (e.g. the batsman hits the ball into the crowd ... kinda like a home-run hit in baseball). They also had volunteers walking through the crowds with donation buckets.

At the end of the day the total amount raised was just over AUD$14 million.

And that was only ONE of the special fundraisers that we've had during the week. Our economy is taking as bad a beating as everyone else, but when there's devastation such as the floods in the very north and killer fires in the very south, everyone digs deep.

The highschool that Karrissa goes to had a free dress day yesterday and everyone donated a gold coin ($1 or $2) ... there's another couple of thousand dollars!

Coles ... one of Australia's biggest supermarkets donated ALL of their profits for yesterday, along with whatever else shoppers donated. There were emails and text messages flying across the country about it all week.

Back to the grim side of it though, the Army is slowly making their way through villages and towns, searching house by house for victims. It has been confirmed that a lot of victims will be unable to be identified. They're coming across huddles of people in houses/cars/dams/open land. The coroner has made "space" available for 300 victims.

Still, no words can describe the scenes. It's as though a bomb has been set off in every house/shed/car. The fire so hot it has melted the toughest steel.

We are waiting for Prime Minister Rudd to declare a National Day of Mourning.