Australia’s government yesterday said it was willing to pay “whatever it takes” to help communities recover from deadly wildfires that have ravaged the country.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was committing an extra A$2 billion (US$1.4 billion) toward the recovery effort in addition to the tens of millions of dollars that have already been promised.
“The fires are still burning. And they’ll be burning for months to come,” Morrison said. “And so that’s why I outlined today that this is an initial, an additional, investment of A$2 billion. If more is needed and the cost is higher, then more will be provided.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Morrison’s announcement of the funds, which would go toward rebuilding towns and infrastructure destroyed by the fires, came as authorities said two more people were missing in remote parts of New South Wales.
Nationwide, at least 24 people have been killed and 2,000 homes destroyed by the blazes.
Rain and cooler temperatures yesterday were bringing some relief to communities battling the fires, but the rain was also making it challenging for fire crews to complete strategic burns as they tried to prepare for higher temperatures forecast for later in the week.
“With the more benign weather conditions it presents some wonderful relief for everybody, the firefighters, the emergency services personnel, but also the communities affected by these fires,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters. “But it also presents some real challenges when it comes to implementing tactical and strategic back-burns and other techniques to try and bring these fires under control.”
More than 135 fires were still burning across New South Wales.
Officials have warned that the rain will not put out the largest and most dangerous blazes before conditions deteriorate again.
Victoria Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said at least 200 millimeters of rain would need to fall over a short period of time to snuff out the fires — about 20 times what has fallen across the region in the past day.
“No one can be complacent. We’ve got big fire danger coming our way toward the end of this week,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters in Melbourne. “We are by no means out of this. And the next few days, and indeed the next few months, are going to be challenging.”
Canberra yesterday had the worst air quality of any major city in the world.
Morrison said the military was attempting to get food, fuel and water to burned-out communities, and engineers were working to reopen roads.
On Kangaroo Island, a refuge off the coast of South Australia for endangered creatures, teams had arrived to help euthanize livestock and wild animals injured in the blazes.
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