Sheer Devastation

In between my chores, and exercise regime this morning, I've been glued to the TV. The bushfires in Victoria are just horrific. There are over 100 people dead and they are saying that number will possibly double as there are still lots of people unaccounted for. I was in Geelong during the horrible Ash Wednesday fires, where we had smoke and ash filling out city as a stark reminder that the devastation was fairly close. Seventy people died in those fires in 1983. When I lived in Springbrook I was evacuated from my home, I left my rented home with my small car filled with my 'treasures'. I couldn't take my cat because she was nowhere to be found, so I just prayed she was safe. Both those incidences gave me a glimpse of the fear of such a situation. And being able to view the aftermath was a very sobering experience. Fortunately in Springbrook no homes were lost.

I had to turn off the TV, because me sitting in front of it crying is unfortunately not going to help anybody. My heart and my prayers go out to all those affected by this. People have lost farms, homes, cars and precious family and friends. People have been burned alive in their cars as they were fleeing their homes. A newsreader and his wife was killed, he was a regular on the TV every night in all the years I lived in Victoria. As this unfolds, there will be many stories, of hope, bravery and sadness. Fires are still burning and news is still not filtering out to those waiting.

The most tragic part of all this is that the fires were deliberately lit.

Those arsonists will wish they were never born.