http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm
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Victorian bushfires death toll expected to rise to 230Font Size:
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Print UPDATED: Rick Wallace | February 09, 2009
Article from: The Australian THE DEATH toll from the nation's worst bushfires is expected to more than double, with the Victorian Government being advised to prepare for 230 fatalities.
Police and fire crews began entering some of the worst-affected regions today and the official toll stood at 128, having been increased from 107 just after 2pm AEST.
But The Australian understands the state government was advised during crisis meetings this morning of predictions of at least 230 deaths.
The grim tally amounts to at least three times the number of lives lost in both the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 and the Black Friday fires of 1939.
The warning come as residents in the Beechworth and Yackandandah regions in Victoria's northeast remain on high alert today with a bushfire bearing down on them from the east.
As forensic investigators began work in the Churchill region in Gippsland to establish if the fires were deliberately lit, the state's Country Fire Authority advised that the blaze in the bushland region had crossed the Yackandandah-Dederang Road about 20km southeast of Beechworth.
It has also jumped the Kiewa River between the towns of Running Creek and Coral Bank, another 20km to the south, and is heading northwest towards the two regions.
Towns on urgent alert include Stanley, Bruarong, Dederang, Gundowring, Gundowring Upper, Kancoona, Kancoona South, Coral Bank, Glen Creek and Running Creek.
The town of Eskdale is also on alert.
The fire warnings came as Victorian Premier John Brumby indicated today that a review of the bushfires would include examining the "stay and defend or leave early" policy.
Police said today all fire-devastated areas would be treated as crime scenes to determine if arson was involved.
Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said: "At this stage we have a team at the fire at Churchill in the Gippsland Valley, which is certainly one that we believe was deliberately lit.
"Our fire experts and our own investigators have suggested that the way that it happened, how fast that it happened, that there is good evidence to believe that it was lit."
Responding to speculation that the fires has been deliberately lit, the Prime Minister, who remained in Victoria today, said it would amount to “mass murder”.
“What do you say about anyone like that - there are no words to describe it other than mass murder,” Mr Rudd said.
Today's sitting of federal parliament has been cancelled as a mark of respect to the victims.
Mr Rudd said Australia had become used to disasters affecting Australians overseas, such as the Bali bombings, but now tragedy had struck on a large scale at home.
“This is of a level of horror that few of us anticipated,” he said. “The practical challenge is to provide the hand and heart of human friendship.”
More than the 31 fires are still raging across the state.
Mr Rudd said he had received offers of help from the British and New Zealand prime ministers and would be taking up the offer of 100 firefighters from New Zealand.
He said 600 army temporary accommodation units would be provided to house those left homeless by the fires while Centrelink would be making immediate cash payments to fire victims.
“These are just starts and I say this to the people of Victoria - Australia is with you and we're going to rebuild these communities with a combined national effort,” he said.
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Photo of Bike rider giving Koala a drink of water during the Australia heatwave courtesy of: Daniel Shaw
The Animals in the wildfires are suffering and dying too... Click here to read a story from some of the residents... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7877503.stm
