Black Saturday

1000 homes destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of land devastated. Whole towns and communities decimated, literally wiped off the map. A death toll of nearly 200 that it is predicted to rise to 300. The worst bushfires in history.


It's making big news overseas; even Perez Hilton has taken note.


It's so, so horrible and incomprehensible to imagine what these people have lost; homes, memories, lifetimes, their past, their families and friends. The atrocity of it is that these fires are suspected to be started by arsonists. My mother thinks they ought to receive the death penalty, because it's murder, but as they say on the news, it's often hard to prove. Should they hang?


The only good to come out of this is Australia's response, and it's times like these to be proud of my country. There may only be 20 million of us, but by golly we know how to rally. More than $100 million has been raised already, with the Australian cricket team, the AFL, Coles supermaket, and many others pledging to the cause. Thousands of people are giving blood and donating clothing, furniture, household goods, animal feed, and other items; 14 ship container loads at last count. We're going through our closets at home to give to the Savlos, and are going to donate money. Of course, it's not enough; none of it will ever be enough. But it's something.

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JAG