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February 09, 2009

Inferno In Australia

***Please donate what you can to the Australian Red Cross. Sure, the economy sucks, but our dear friends in Australia have always been there for us; I'll be god-damned if I'm not going to step up for them.***

Via Tim, the news is just too horrible:

VICTORIA remains under a shroud of smoke and grief today with thousands homeless and at least 134 people dead after the worst bushfires in Australia's history.

Entire towns were wiped out in the weekend's fires, which the Prime Minister described as hell's fury unleashed.

Victorian Premier John Brumby has announced there will a Royal Commission into Victoria's devastating bushfires as the toll now tops 134 and is expected to rise considerably more.

At least 800 homes have been destroyed, more than 330,000ha burnt out and some fires may take weeks to contain.

An expert says the scale of the bushfire injuries is worse than those seen in the Bali bombing - and politicians are warned the Victorian bushfire death toll may double.

Potentially hundreds of people dead, dead, from these fires, fires which may in fact have been set

Victoria Police Deputy Chief Commissioner Kieran Walshe has said some of the fires are believed to have been deliberately lit, but would not say which ones.

A police spokeswoman said anyone found to have lit the fires would likely be charged with murder or manslaughter.

"They can be charged with murder, it depends on the evidence that comes to hand," the spokeswoman said.

"They could be charged with manslaughter or they could be charged with murder."

My mind just reels. What sort of vile, deranged animals could do such a thing?

Those poor, sweet wonderful people who have died such indescribably horrific deaths. I can not bear to look at the photos of the victims; it's too heart-rending.

Once again, please donate what you can to the Australian Red Cross.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at February 9, 2009 06:27 AM

Comments

Hell on earth, bless their hearts. Indescribable.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at February 9, 2009 08:22 AM

Good lord, that's one terrifying picture.

Posted by: Eric at February 9, 2009 09:35 AM

That picture is horrifying. I've seen other scary ones on other news sites. My heart goes out to them all.

Posted by: ricki at February 9, 2009 03:12 PM

Is anyone else having trouble with the Australian Red Cross donation site?

I go to it, fill out the donor info, click "Submit" and just end up with the same page, refreshed - I can't get any farther along. I'd be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks.

Posted by: Anne B. at February 9, 2009 03:50 PM

Worked fine for me in Firefox. I got an e-mail letting me know the donation had been received.

You might try switching browsers? Or maybe the site is just overwhelmed right now by so many people donating? (that would be the best possible reason for the problem)

Posted by: ricki at February 9, 2009 04:57 PM

Hi Anne. It worked fine for me in Firefox (I used my Winders XP box at the office) as well; I *hope* the reason is as per ricki's thought.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at February 9, 2009 06:35 PM

Unfathomable horror.
Of interest is this:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/022578.php

Posted by: gregor at February 9, 2009 07:16 PM

Hey, gregor, everything is justified when you're all about Peace.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at February 10, 2009 06:18 AM