Australia Burning

THE tragic facts and figures so far.

- GABRIELLE OZYNSKI

MANY areas of Australia now resemble Venusian landscapes, with dark orange skies and thick smoke looming over people huddled on beaches as they try to escape the continent’s worst-ever fires.

Like something out of a Hollywood disaster movie, long rows of cars have been seen leaving towns to flee the inferno. At the time of going to print these are some figures that show the massive damage that has been done. (And it’s set to continue for the next two months, with the fires even creating their own fierce and destructive weather patterns.)

✽ TWENTY FOUR people have died so far.

✽ SIX-MILLION hectares (60 000km2 or 14.8-million acres) of bush, forest and parks have been burnt.

✽ IN New South Wales 1 300 houses have burnt down with those residents having to evacuate to safety.

✽ OVER 800 000 hectares have burnt in the state of Victoria.