Mass murder in Australia ?

[Wolf With The Red Roses]

"We are not victims... we are survivors." - a quote from a man who lost his home, his belongings, his horses and dogs

"The spirit of Australians is a lesson to the world.." - Orlando Bloom

The above quotes were heard during a Telethon held last night to raise money for the bushfire appeal. Orlando was here in Oz visiting his Australian girlfriend and spent all night answering phones taking donations during the telethon...It was also made clear that besides the loss of human life and property, in excess of 1 million animals have perished...

But on the bright side.. the Telethon raised $21million, which takes the total from the Red Cross Appeal to $77 million. Outstanding considering current times.

One other thing that moved me as well... Leonard Cohen, who is currently touring in Australia, donated... wait for it... TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!

Even as I write two more towns are under threat but the word is the Firefighters will have them under control soon as long as the weather stays in their favour...

[Spideyman]

Heard on the news Australia will set a National Day of Mourning. My heart goes out to all those who are dealing with these wildfires. I can only begin to imagine the fear and loss of life amongst the animals. May the weather conditions be such that these fires are controlled very soon.

Thank you for the update Wolf With The Red Roses. Be safe!

[sueb84]

(((((everyone down under)))))

[Harley Wench]

Great news on the fund raising...it can help so much but it can't take away the trauma..as I said before..your country should be a shining example to the world on how people pull together and think of others besides themselves..the gentleman was right..you're not victims..you are survivors in the strongest sense of the word...Is there a website to donate to the relief fund??

[staropeace]

GOd Bless the people...some of me cobbers down there...God Bless Aussie...

[Srbo]

"We are not victims... we are survivors." - a quote from a man who lost his home, his belongings, his horses and dogs

"The spirit of Australians is a lesson to the world.." - Orlando Bloom

The above quotes were heard during a Telethon held last night to raise money for the bushfire appeal. Orlando was here in Oz visiting his Australian girlfriend and spent all night answering phones taking donations during the telethon...It was also made clear that besides the loss of human life and property, in excess of 1 million animals have perished...

But on the bright side.. the Telethon raised $21million, which takes the total from the Red Cross Appeal to $77 million. Outstanding considering current times.

One other thing that moved me as well... Leonard Cohen, who is currently touring in Australia, donated... wait for it... TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!

Even as I write two more towns are under threat but the word is the Firefighters will have them under control soon as long as the weather stays in their favour...

My life is as hard as it is anyway...

1 MILLION ANIMALS ?

Sometimes it`s really, really hard NOT to hate...

[JackTheRipper]

...I am just speechless... What kind of a-hole would do that? Is he just effin stupid?

[JayneH]

They arrested a 39yo guy last night and he was charged this morning with lighting the Churchill fires. He is in protective custody as he isnt the most popular guy around!

181 people dead, close to a million native animals, 000's of hectares of land burnt and over 1800 homes lost. As someone who lives in a rural environment who has nearly lost her house before - my hearts go out to them. Hopefully they will catch the other murderers as well as those moronic looters that have moved into the area.

[ticktock]

so sad!

[Dylan Roberts]

Thanks to everybody here who was concerned...

Things got pretty smoke-filled where I was, and to be honest, I'd literally come up with a bit of a plan to dig line and torch the yard if things were going to get close. Hunkering down somewhere in the black would've been my only defense, really, as I was living in a place that belonged to a mechanic and had a lot of vehicles (some of them with full gas tanks, which basically makes them explosives in wait), a garage full of flammable stuff (including a buttload of fireworks), and my chances would not have been good. The only way to escape would have been to have hooked up a battery to one of the vehicles and try to drive out- I don't have a full license in Australia, but hey, if push came to shove, I wouldn't have cared.

Scariest thing was that practically nobody knew I was living there, and the only ones that did were a fair distance aways. So, I sat around nervously, with guitar and a few beers, and John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" blaring out of my PA. Watched the moon rise every night, blood red and voodoo-like every night for a week solid.

Lucky for me, the fire never reached me...But I heard quite a few horror stories from people I knew up in the Healesville area, some of which are pretty bad. And the aftermath...is just tragic.

But here's a thought-
What if .... a member of the board DOES end up caught in something as horrible as this, and loses all their worldy things ? What are people here REALLY willing to do ?

Dylan