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News > Australia

Australia Deploys 3,000 Reservists to Combat Bushfire Crisis

  • Mother and son wearing masks stand under a sky tinted red as surrounding bushfires close in, Mallacoota, Australia, January 4, 2020.

    Mother and son wearing masks stand under a sky tinted red as surrounding bushfires close in, Mallacoota, Australia, January 4, 2020. | Photo: Reuters

Published 4 January 2020
Opinion

Wildfires are generating an unprecedented tragedy in local ecosystems and their animal populations.

Australia deployed three thousand reservists to fight forest fires on Saturday at the southeast of the country, where 21 people have died so far.

RELATED:

Australia: Wildfires Paint the Sky Red, Create Lightning Storms 

"It is costing us a high price," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said and mentioned that at least 1,500 homes have been burned across the country since September.

The Australian PM also announced the deployment of the Adelaide ship to help evacuate people, the opening of military bases to house victims, and a US$13.8 million budget to rent four seaplanes.

“We’re putting more Defence Force boots on the ground, more planes in the sky, more ships to sea, and more trucks to roll in to support the bushfire fighting effort,” he tweeted.

Morrison made these announcements after weeks of criticism for his lack of response. The rejection of the Prime Minister was evident on Thursday when people refused to shake hands and insulted him.​​​​​​​

"Half a billion dead animals. It is genocide. Who cares?"

About 3,000 people were trapped in a beach near the coastal town of Mallacoota in Victoria. A thousand of them were evacuated and arrived in Melbourne aboard a Navy ship on Saturday.

"There are fires everywhere. It all depends on the winds," Veronica Valderama, an Argentine woman who lives in the town of Lochiel, said.

Maria Andreu, a Spanish woman who lives with her husband and two young children in Bega, said that they decided to go to Canberra on Friday after the fire forced them to flee from a camping center.

"Canberra has smoke but it is not even half of what is down there in Bega," she added.​​​​​​​

Wildfires are also generating an unprecedented tragedy in local ecosystems and their animal populations.

"Ecologists from the University of Sydney now estimate 480 million mammals, birds, and reptiles have been lost since September," CommonDreams reported.

"Fires have burned so hot and so fast that there has been significant mortality of animals in the trees, but there is such a big area now that is still on fire and still burning that we will probably never find the bodies," Mark Graham, an ecologist with the National Conservation Council, said.​​​​​​​

Animal species that cannot move quickly like the Koalas are among the most numerous victims of the catastrophe.

The huge destruction testifies to the relationship between global warming and the intensification of high temperatures in the Australian heat season.

However, just a few weeks ago, PM Morrison attacked environmental activists and vowed to prohibit climate campaigns aimed at boycotting ​​​​​​​economic activities.

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