Australians marked the first anniversary of devastating wildfires that killed 173 people with a national day of mourning yesterday, grieving those who lost their lives and praying for the survivors.
The “Black Saturday” bushfires, Australia’s worst recorded natural disaster, wiped out entire towns and communities and destroyed more than 2,000 homes as they swept through 78 communities in the southeastern state of Victoria last year.
“One year ago our lives changed forever,” a woman who lost her son and home in the inferno said at a memorial service in Melbourne. “On that day we lost our past, our present and our future. To all of those who have lost your homes, your businesses, your pets, your memories, we feel your pain. To all those who grieve for family, friends and neighbors, you share my pain.”
PHOTO: AFP
As flags across Australia flew at half-mast, one minute’s silence was observed at the memorial service at Melbourne’s St Paul’s Cathedral attended by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
“February 7 will be forever etched in the nation’s memory as a day of mourning but also one of tremendous spirit and inspiration,” he said. “Our thoughts today are with the survivors of the bushfires as they remember the people they lost and work to rebuild their lives and towns. Their quiet courage has inspired a nation.”
In the worst affected towns of Marysville, Kinglake and Strahewan, smaller services and events were to be held to remember those lost in the firestorms.
Kinglake West Uniting Church minister Mark Prowse said that 12 months on, the community was still grieving.
“People are telling me today they are still hurting, they are still grieving, they are getting through it,” Prowse told reporters. “Emotionally and physically they are tired. There’s time when they feel they have no hope. They wonder what’s going on.”
Officials warned that the memorials would be traumatic for many.
“Don’t underestimate how significant this will be emotionally, not just to those directly affected, but to the millions of Victorians and Australians who shared their tears and who grieved last year,” Victoria Premier John Brumby said.
The Black Saturday fires prompted an examination of Australia’s bushfire safety measures, including the stay-and-defend policy that allowed residents to remain in their homes during wildfires if they were deemed to be properly prepared.
Christine Nixon, who heads the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority, said the fires had left “an indelible scar” not only on those directly affected, but on Australians and the world.
“Over the past year there have been many tears,” she said. “We’ve all seen and heard things that we would hope never to see again.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of