Please say a prayer for the people of Victoria, Australia

[bernie40]

The devastating fires in Victoria, Australia are beyond comprehension.  The fact that they have been started intentionally is horrific.

My heart, my thoughts and my prayers go out to the people there.

[Delusion]

Didnt catch much of this on the news i was in paris the week it happened just thought it was some small forest fires with no loss of life, never realised how horrorific it was till i got back and it was still on the news.. Im very sorry for monkeyc and all the other australians =/

[Minty737]

Yeh there are floods in QLD, my town and 4 hours drive north of here have been badly affected. We had 2 cyclones and one rain depression in the time frame or 2 weeks. Plus over the last 2 months its been raining almost non-stop. We were cut-off from all food supplies for most of last week, and even now were only getting them from ships taking food north, which is the driven south. The roads between townsville and mackay are cut off. I don't know if anyone has died in these floods though...a lot of people ahve lost their homes, and a lot more had them damaged partially or totally...but that still doesn't compare to the bushfires.

I watch the news, and lately thats all that is on, bushfires. It is very sad, but difficult for me at least to comprehend how big they are, and what it would be like. Fortunately, the few friends i have that live down south have not been affected by them yet. They are on their way back to uni next week too, so hopefully will be away from it in time.

I think it is further evidence of global warming that we can have such vast differences from one end of our country to the other. As the world struggles with what we have done to it the climate gets weirder and weirder. What is happening now may be natures way of striking back at humanity- if not a cruel way. My boyfriend tells me about his home-Sweden. For the last 3 years they have not technically had winter, which is several days (at least 10 i think) of weather below -20C. This year they had no snow at Christmas time, and it is beginning to snow now in February, when the snow should be less and less frequent. Oh and the first coral reef has been spotted in southern sweden, while the bleaching of coral reefs in tropical areas kills more and more each year.

I know my view may seem spllit - it is. I am sorry to see people in such hardship in my own country and others...but I do believe humanity has brought this upon itself.

[bernie40]

The rising death toll really hits deep even from all the way over here in the UK.  It was the priminister saying about some of fires being deliberate - how anyone could start even 1 fire is terrible especially knowing how quickly fire spreads in that part of the world.

Yes monkeyc, it is difficult to watch and it must be even harder for you there.  We lost 4 firefighters in a factory blaze just 6 miles from my home, one of them lived in my street and I cannot begin to explain how we all felt.  To magnify this to the numbers in Victoria - well I just can't get my head around it.

I then see that there are floods at the other end of the country??  

:-(

[monkeyc]

Death toll is up over 180 now.

On arson - this is the media rubbish feeding a frenzy of sorrow - I cannot turn on a TV right now as its on all channels and im suicidal already - in reality only 1 of about 20 fires has been proven to be started by an arsonist and the rest were most likely started by other causes - in the super dry heat and high wind environment the day this happened it would have taken only a few sparks and then its out of control.

A wall of fire moving at speed has to be seen to be believed - Ive seen it once and its terrifying even from many KM away - and the sound is like nothing on earth.

Some of the stories coming out are just heartbreaking, parents who lost kids, firefighters whose familes were killed while they were away, sisters who died trying to save their horses and so many more - most of them had no chance to even run, the roads were blocked and the fire moved too fast.

[jst4shanell]

They are saying here in the U.S. that the fires are criminal and arson.  Have you heard anything about this????

[monkeyc]

Oh on the intentional - our media is sensationalist - the reality is no one knows how these fires started but with the heat we have had and lightning strikes they don't need to be deliberately lit - in fact out of the hundreds of fires there may only be one which MIGHT have been lit by someone - there is a lot of sensationalism going on right now.

[monkeyc]

Its all we are seeing on the news,  Ive been to a lot of those towns myself and know the area well and the sheer destruction is impossible to comprehend - there are stories which rip the heart out coming in; entire families burned to death in their cars trying to escape, firestorms pushed by 45 celsius temps and 100km an hour winds roaring like living animals down the mountain sides; firefighters reported houses being consumed in under 2 minutes as the fire shredded entire townships like beast.

We are no stranger to fire in Australia - its so common that we have plants and trees which need fire to germinate and we get seasons like this all too often (every 2-3 years) but this year has been hot and dry and the fuel loads are immense and the firestorms are the biggest anyone has ever seen.  

173 dead so far, the small town of Strathewen lost 30 residents (so far) out of a small community of 450 people and there is not a building left standing apparently - the fires are still burning out of control and now threatening other towns- its on a scale which is so hard to comprehend for the average person who does not live here with our sense of scale - the firefront covers hundreds of kilometers and has consumed over 330'000 hectares so far and just getting fire crews into the sort of country the fires are burning is hard even when you have enough trained crews with local knowledge and they don't - these guys are volunteers and many of them have lost homes and even families themselves while fighting the fires.

If you want to know more this is Victoria's capital city newspaper - there are photos there that show the sheer terror of this whole thing : http://www.theage.com.au/

Its depressing just to see, the stories of the victims and survivors are so bad I cant bear to read them or watch the news right now myself.

[Venora Moonwind]

They are in my prayers.
Blessed Be
Venora