Article Title: ‘Australia aflame’
Published in: Economist.com
Publishing date: February 9th 2009
URL: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13092587&source=features_box_main
Monday February 9th brought with it further news of one of the worst natural disasters in Australian history. The state of Victoria has been ravaged by wildfires, starting on the 7th, that have killed over 130 people so far, destroyed more than 750 homes and burned down 350,000 hectares of land. It overshadows the fires of January 13th 1939, on ‘Black Friday’, and February 16th 1983, on ‘Ash Wednesday’.
Recent temperatures of 45°C, alongside with strong winds and the drought in south-east Australia, created the extremely dry conditions that are the reasons for the immensity of the fires. Though some were caused by natural occurrences such as lightning, arsonists are also held responsible for a number of them. Also, it has been claimed that some have been re-lit after the fires were controlled. The fires affected national parks and farming lands 70 km from Melbourne most, yet also affected Latrobe valley; in total, most of the state of Victoria was affected by the inferno. Though the authorities had improved their co-ordination and communication skills considerably after Ash Wednesday, the conditions allowed for the rapid spread of the fire. The communities were caught by surprise, many people died trying to escape in a hurry. Already, Kevin Rudd, prime minister of Australia, promised A$10 billion for the relief of the victims of these fires.
Predictions that there would be a general increase in the Forest Fire index across south-east Australia from 34 years up to 2007 seem to be horribly true. Links have already been made to climate change; it supports the prediction that the fire seasons would begin earlier, end later and be more intense. It is not out of the question, seeing as the fires grew much more frequent since the arrival of the settlers 221 years ago.