Brush fires in Australia (Worst disaster in Australian History)

[H-kon]

Seriously. Elf. How close are these fires to you?  Stay safe man!

I just read that the death toll is now at 131 people




http://www.theage.com.au/national/death-toll-rises-from-bushfires-20090208-80jv.html

I cannot fathom how it must be with almost 50C, 90 km/h winds and no humidity at all.

This quote did a little to help me understand the seriousness and how dangerous this is:

A University of Melbourne senior lecturer in fire ecology and management, Kevin Tolhurst, said the radiant heat - the heat given off by the fires - would itself have been enough to kill. "When it gets close, you have enormous radiation loads."

The "survivability" distance of Saturday's heat was about four times their height - a 35-metre high fire would directly imperil those within 140 metres.

Here is another heartwrenching quote i found:

A father who lost his wife and one of his children in the Australian wildfires asked neighbours to save his remaining daughter as the blaze ravaged his body.

He was so badly burnt his skin hung off him as he ran for help, cradling his baby daughter, one witness said yesterday.

'His little girl was burnt but not as badly as her dad. He came down and said, ''Look, I've lost my wife, I've lost my other kid, I just need you to save my daughter",' added Marie Jones.

I feel for you down there. I want to donate some money for the affected families. www.redcross.au doesn't work here. Any other places accepting donations from f.ex paypal?

[H-kon]

Edit 2:

I used this one: http://relieffund.org.au/donate/6

[Elf]

^ That is one big fire.

Seriously. Elf. How close are these fires to you?  Stay safe man!

I am around 600kms away. There are no fires near me. H-kon you know what town I live in, you can look it up on this map.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102249094339782735107.0004625ef88fc64cf65fe&ll=-37.361426,145.38208&spn=3.056115,4.669189&z=7&source=embed

I just read that the death toll is now at 131 people

The death toll is now 181 people. That toll will rise as there are a lot of houses still to be searched.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5312864/death-toll-approaching-200-1000-homes-destroyed/

I feel for you down there. I want to donate some money for the affected families. www.redcross.au doesn't work here. Any other places accepting donations from f.ex paypal?

Here is the address of our Red Cross.

http://www.redcross.org.au/default.asp

I don't know if they accept international donations.

EDIT: I see you have found a site.

[H-kon]

I am glad you're safe. I found a map over the affected areas, but it didn't say where the fires had been. Judging from the map, large portions of south eastern part is affected, and i always forget how big Australia is :/

I haven't kept your address in my PM box (due to privacy/hackers etc) so i was a bit worried for a while since i couldn't even remember what part of the country you lived in.

Donated $40,- AUD. I'll check my bills this month and see what i can spare. Edit: Yikes: 4K AUD. I hate February.

[Elf]

No need to worry.

I have also donated money.

Whats wrong with February?

[clifton]

Oh my gosh,Elf. We saw this on the news. How terrible.  So glad you and yours are safe.
Count on us for a donation as well.

Yvonne

[H-kon]

No need to worry.

I have also donated money.

Whats wrong with February?

February over here is usually cold, dark and most of the bills for the taxes the government wants come. I can deal with the two first, the latter not so much

[Elf]

An update.

The death toll has risen to 210 with at least 37 people still missing.
By 4pm (AEDT) Saturday, the 623 fires listed by the DSE had burnt up to 400,000 hectares, with four major fires still burning out of control.

Below is a news article posted on the 28th February.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,25119014-1243,00.html

[clifton]

 We have heard very little on the news lately, thanks for the update and the link.
Hopefully it will all be under control very soon.

[Elf]

Yeah there isn't much on the news here. Took me a while to find the link.