As Bushfires Rage in Australia, Both Heart-Breaking and Heart-Warming Images Surface to Describe The Worst Natural Disasters
Call it climate change, call it global warming, call it what you will but whatever be the reason for the carnage in Australia, the ground reality is that Australia is burning. Over the past month since September, horrible and heart-rending images have been flashed in our laptops and cellphones of the devastation raged by bushfires since September last year and as if that wasn’t enough, the Bureau of Metrology has predicted average temperatures but below-average rainfall and horrible fire conditions for much of the east right up to the end of March.
1Worse weather ahead?
Australian firefighters may have got momentary relief from brief showers but there is a sense of foreboding about what’s next as predictions of more fires add to the pallor of gloom fallen over the entire continent saddened by the some of the worst and devastating bushfires in Australian history.
Image Source: dailymail.co.uk
2One of the most tragic pictures surfaced from Batlow
By far one of the most gut-wrenching scenes doing the round since yesterday is the picture and video of scores of blackened animal bodies mainly kangaroos, sheep and koalas lining the roads of the of bushfire hit town of Batlow near Canberra. Thousands of koalas are feared dead in the Kangaroo Island blaze. The region is home to an estimated population of 50,000 koalas and it is unknown how many may have lost their lives to the blaze.
Image Source: dailymail.co.uk
ABC cameraman Matt Roberts who shot the heart-breaking scenes in Batlow said he had never seen anything like it ‘Sorry to have to share these images… it’s completely heartbreaking. Worst thing I’ve seen. Story must be told.’ Roads were lined with marsupials and paddocks filled with dead sheep. Authorities fear that dozens of homes may have been lost on the town’s outskirts where one 47-year-old man David Harrison was reported to have died defending the home of a friend in Canberra.
Image Source: dailymail.co.uk
3480 million animals will either be displaced, injured, starve or die
Fire season peaks in February known as the February Dragon but this time, Australia’s east coast has been badly hit by bushfires raging since September with meteorological maps showing the entire east coast in a flaming red. It is only January 6th but already several hundreds of people have been displaced from their homes, 23 have been reported dead and 6 missing.
Image Source: dailymail.co.uk
But the bigger tragedy is the milions of helpless koalas, kangaroos and other animals displaced, killed and injured by the flames. An estimate doing the rounds and clarified in the BBC says 480 million animals have been affected by the fire either through death, starvation, displacement or injury.
Image Source: mothership.sg
4Balmattum hill looked like it was covered in lava
One incredible picture taken last Saturday in Euro showed the remnants of the blaze that raged across Balmattum Hill Bushland Reserve. The fire threatened to devastate the neighbouring towns. It looked like a hill of lava glowing where one Melissa Ericksen shot this picture and posted on social media with the caption ‘Balmattum Hill is really glowing tonight, however not as much as all of our incredible and selfless emergency services. Thank you.’
Image Source: dailymail.co.uk
Ms. Ericksen watched more than 40 fire trucks, three helicopters and three aircraft battle the blaze from 9am. The hills were covered in smoke and nothing could be seen from the town till strong gusts of winds blew through before 10 pm. Eriksen said ‘Balmattum Hill is a place I have walked all my life and it appeared to be covered in lava under the darkness,’ she told news.com.au.
Image Source: cnn.com
