Australian Bushfires Kill 131, Dozens More Missing

Weary firefighters and rescuers pulled the remains of dozens of people from charred buildings on Monday as the death toll rose to 131 from Australia’s deadliest bushfires.

“Everybody’s gone. Everybody’s gone. Everybody. Their houses are gone. They’re all dead in the houses there. Everybody’s dead,” cried Christopher Harvey, a survivor from Kinglake where most people were killed, as he walked through the town.

Police believe some of the fires, which razed rural towns near the country’s second biggest city, Melbourne, were deliberately lit and declared one devastated town a crime scene.

“There are no words to describe it other than mass murder,” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told local television.

“These numbers (dead) are numbing … and I fear they will rise further,” he added.

The bushfires are the country’s worst natural disaster in more than a century, and will put pressure on Rudd to deliver a broad new climate policy.

One massive bushfire tore through several towns in the southern state of Victoria on Saturday night, destroying everything in its path. Many people died in cars trying to flee and others were killed huddled in their homes, yet some escaped by jumping in swimming pools or farm reservoirs.

The inferno was as tall as a four-story building at one stage and was sparking spot fires 40 km (25 miles) ahead of itself as the strong winds blew hot embers in its path. “It’s going to look like Hiroshima, I tell you. It’s going to look like a nuclear bomb. There are animals dead all over the road,” said Harvey.

More than 750 houses were destroyed and some 78 people, with serious burns and injuries, are in hospital.

Many patients had burns to more than 30 percent of their bodies and some injuries were worse than the Bali bombings in 2002, said one doctor at a hospital emergency department.

CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY
Wildfires are a natural annual event in Australia, but this year a combination of scorching weather, drought and tinder-dry bush has created prime conditions.

The fires, and major floods in the Queensland in the north, will put pressure on Rudd who is due to deliver a new climate policy in May. Green politicians are citing the extreme weather to back a tougher climate policy.

Scientists say Australia, with its harsh environment, is set to be one of the nations most affected nations by climate change.
“Continued increases in greenhouse gases will lead to further warming and drier conditions in southern Australia, so the (fire) risks are likely to slightly worsen,” said Kevin Hennessy at the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Centre (CSIRO).

The Victorian bushfire tragedy is the worst natural disaster in Australia in 110 years. In 1899, Cyclone Mahina struck Australia’s northern Cape York, killing more than 400.

PLEAS FOR MISSING
Thousands of firefighters continued on Monday to battle the fire and scores of other blazes across the southern state of Victoria, as well as fires in neighboring New South Wales state.

While cooler, less windy, conditions helped firefighters, 10 major fires remained out of control in Victoria. But the weeklong heat wave that triggered the bushfire inferno was over.

The fires burnt out more than 330,000 ha (815,000 acres) of mostly bushland in Victoria, but a number of vineyards in the Yarra Valley were also destroyed. The Insurance Council of Australia said it was too early to estimate the bill.

The small town of Marysville was sealed off by police as forensic scientists searched through the rubble for evidence about the cause of the fire, which destroyed many of its homes.

As dawn broke in the town of Whittlesea, near Kinglake where most people died, shocked residents wandered the streets, some crying, searching for loved ones still missing.

“The last anyone saw of them, the kids were running in the house, they were blocked in the house,” cried Sam Gents who had not heard from his wife Tina and three young children, aged 6, 13 and 15, since an inferno swept through Kinglake.

“If they let me up the mountain I know where to go (to try and find them),” Gents sobbed. Authorities sealed off Kinglake as bodies were still being recovered.

Handwritten notes pinned to a board in the Whittlesea evacuation center told the same sad story, with desperate pleas from people for their missing family and friends to contact them.

Rudd said it would take years to rebuild the devastated towns and has announced a A$10 million ($6.8 million) aid package. He has also called in the army to help erect emergency shelter.

The previous worst bushfire tragedy in Australia was in 1983 when 75 people were killed.

(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

IJ Ed. Note: With many fires still burning, it is too early to assess the losses and damage claims, but they will be substantial. Insurance Australia Group (IAG) issued the following bulletin: The Group said that “following the devastating fires which have swept through Victoria over the weekend, IAG is not yet in a position to provide an estimate of the cost of the fires as customers continue to lodge claims.”

Managing Director and CEO, Michael Wilkins added: “IAG extends its deepest sympathy to those people in Victoria who have been tragically affected by the bushfires.

“The priority of the Group’s companies is to assist customers with their immediate needs such as temporary accommodation and emergency financial assistance. Our teams are mobilizing in Victoria from across other states to provide our customers support.”

IAG said it “will update the market as soon as it is in a position to provide an estimate of the cost.

QBE, Australia’s largest insurer, has not yet issued a statement on the fires.