Comments | amaliestar: Fires in Victoria

amaliestar

Fires in Victoria

Feb 09, 2009 08:56

Like everyone else in Australia I am in shock at the devastation wrought by the fires in Victoria with 108 people dead in our worst ever fire disaster. It seems petty to worry about things like my thesis (I'm in the middle of editing and have been questioning if I'll ever be finished), money worries etc. At least I'm alive and so are my family ( Read more... )

petty worries, thesis, victoria fires 2009

Comments 6

susanjacobson February 9 2009, 02:16:52 UTC

Glad to hear you are OK. I was thinking about you today.
Are you in Brisbane or Melbourne?

amaliestar February 9 2009, 03:02:55 UTC

In Brisbane. Most of my home state (Queensland) is in flood and the floods are just as catastophic in their own way as the fires though fortunately with far fewer lives lost. So half the country is in flood and the other half on fire. Fortunately though Brisbane isn't getting any wild weather situations (at the moment anyway!).

praeteritio February 9 2009, 07:51:50 UTC

I am so saddened by this. In an age where communication is fast, and disaster measures have been put in place, it's almost unbelievable how many people have died in the fires.

I was thinking this afternoon how all the Victorian Burns units must need a lot of aid right now. I'm so angry at the arsonists, it's the ultimate selfish cruel act.

amaliestar February 10 2009, 00:12:43 UTC

Agree with all of the above. I am against the death penalty but the acts of these arsonists have really tested that resolve. It seems that at least part of the reason for such high death rates is that the fires moved so incredibly fast that people literally didn't know what was happening until it was too late. It's tragic.

kuaimao February 9 2009, 11:47:52 UTC

I was just thinking of you and hoping you're all right! Thank God you're safe.

Is there a particular Australian charity that you'd recommend I donate to? One of the hospitals? I'm the entire world away but want to help. And burns are the absolute worst injuries...

amaliestar February 10 2009, 00:16:28 UTC

The Australian Red Cross www.redcross.org.au is the main group organizing donations and probably the easiest to donate to from overseas. They do warn that their website is overloaded at the moment so it might be difficult to access - but then again you'll be accessing it when we're asleep so that might not be a problem. ;-)

Thanks so much for thinking of donating, it makes a difference to know that we're being thought of from so far away. I'm finding it so difficult to comprehend the scale of this disaster, and so close to home. I'm just thankful that I'm not in the thick of it.