(no subject)
So many tears. So much heartbreak.
130 confirmed dead. Over 700 homes lost. They're expecting the death toll to top 200. Entire families have been wiped out. 9 people found dead in a vehicle. 5 people found dead in a house. A 7 year old boy found in a ditch, alive, but they didn't say whether he was burnt.
I sat at work today listening to the radio. Tearing up as a woman says she doesn't know where her brother and sister-in-law and their kids are. Another woman who doesn't know where her mother is. School principals with class lists trying to tick off names at the evacuation centre.
A fire front that travelled 14 kilometres in 6 minutes. The areas around King Lake pretty much didn't have a chance. People with good fire plans and all the preparation had literally minutes to decide whether to leave or stay, and sometimes both options were equally deadly.
The photographer for the Australian newspaper breaks down during the interview over the horrors he's seen. The Prime Minister and Victorian Premier having to stop and fight back the tears during television interviews. Julia Gillard and other politicians barely being able to speak in parliament. TV reporters barely getting through live crosses.
CFA (bushfire fighters) confronted with bodies. These people are volunteers, members of the community, trained in fighting fires, not in finding bodies, in finding families. At least one CFA member lost his wife and kids while he was trying to help others.
And the danger still isn't over. Towns are still under threat from the current fires and new ones. Falling trees are a danger in those areas burnt out. And the emergency services (and now the army) have to go through every house, every car, anywhere a person could possibly have tried to flee, and look for bodies. Or in some cases, what is left of a body after an essential cremation. It may take months to identify some bodies.
This is a nightmare, and for the people directly affected, it's going to be lifelong.
There are no words. Only more tears.
130 confirmed dead. Over 700 homes lost. They're expecting the death toll to top 200. Entire families have been wiped out. 9 people found dead in a vehicle. 5 people found dead in a house. A 7 year old boy found in a ditch, alive, but they didn't say whether he was burnt.
I sat at work today listening to the radio. Tearing up as a woman says she doesn't know where her brother and sister-in-law and their kids are. Another woman who doesn't know where her mother is. School principals with class lists trying to tick off names at the evacuation centre.
A fire front that travelled 14 kilometres in 6 minutes. The areas around King Lake pretty much didn't have a chance. People with good fire plans and all the preparation had literally minutes to decide whether to leave or stay, and sometimes both options were equally deadly.
The photographer for the Australian newspaper breaks down during the interview over the horrors he's seen. The Prime Minister and Victorian Premier having to stop and fight back the tears during television interviews. Julia Gillard and other politicians barely being able to speak in parliament. TV reporters barely getting through live crosses.
CFA (bushfire fighters) confronted with bodies. These people are volunteers, members of the community, trained in fighting fires, not in finding bodies, in finding families. At least one CFA member lost his wife and kids while he was trying to help others.
And the danger still isn't over. Towns are still under threat from the current fires and new ones. Falling trees are a danger in those areas burnt out. And the emergency services (and now the army) have to go through every house, every car, anywhere a person could possibly have tried to flee, and look for bodies. Or in some cases, what is left of a body after an essential cremation. It may take months to identify some bodies.
This is a nightmare, and for the people directly affected, it's going to be lifelong.
There are no words. Only more tears.