How frightening.I'd feel way too guilty whinging about living without a kitchen and blogging about the reno when so many people have lost their lives, homes and livelihood in the disastrous fires so I'm going to give it a miss today. On Friday afternoon there was a fire somewhere in our area - it would have been miles away, but the smoke and smell was quite intense and I found it hard to breathe at times. I thought to myself "here we go..." and sent out a silent sympathetic thought to the firies who we're in for a big weekend and made bets with my husband how long it'd be before the freeway was closed and the trains stopped running. Pretty much every year the central coast gets blocked off for a while due to fires. This is an incredible pain in the rear for anyone who needs to travel to Sydney or is stuck in Sydney trying to get home. It can be hours - at times days - before you're given the all clear. After this horiffic weekend in Victoria, we of course, have no right to complain. In fact, I'm sure every one of us up here would have happily been inconvenienced for a while if it meant Victoria had no fires, no deaths, no devastating tragedy. I cannot imagine the emotions being felt down there...
My husband suggested if the latest federal Stimulus Package is passed, they should immediately halve the amounts they'd planned to hand out and give the other half to the fire victims and to rebuilding the demolished communities. He also said part of it should go to upgrading our firefighting equipment, procedures and training. Because as temperatures rise year to year, our country is only going to burn faster, further and with more fury.
And for those insert-angry-adjective-here animals lighting these fires, I only hope they're found and punished accordingly. I might not be the world's biggest advocate of capital punishment, but in this case, I think being burnt at the stake highly appropriate...
8 comments:
I can't stop thinking about this today. I blogged about it as well. I'd happily hand over the $950 I would be entitled to from the Stimulus Package to the victims of this tragedy.
My heart goes out to those who have lost family and friends xx
hear! hear!, i could only post a little something for those who are suffering. such a senseless act with horrific consequences. a dark weekend for victoria indeed. however,i am so proud of the firemen, community and volunteers who have helped the survivors. a testament of the great australian spirit that shines through during times of need.
So sad and that photo is like a bad dream . We said the same thing regarding the Stimulus package.Pass it then give it to them to restart their life and community.
I can't help but cry when the TV is on.
My heart goes out to the people who have lost their family and friends and everything they have to the bush fire.
When I saw the interview that K Rudd gave about the idea of people lighting these fires up, I nearly bawled my eyes out to think that someone would be so cruel to do something like this.
I would be happy to hand over my $950 to them.
The crafty world are doing something for the cause. You can find our more at http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/2009/02/handmade-help-crafty-donations-required.html
I had to turn the TV off to stop crying, but that made me feel even more devastated for those who can't turn the tragedy off. Each day it seems to sink in further - I can only begin to imagine how those people feel.
I saw this morning that the appeal had raised over $31M. Isn't that just incredible?? That's $1.50 from every adult and child in the country. I love this country for it's ability to feel absolutely empathy for others and to 'dig deep' when it really matters.
Interesting suggestion in the letter section of today's newspaper: take $30 million of the $40 million Lotto jackpot this weekend and leave $10 million for the winner. I'm sure they wont miss $30 million. A-M xx
this is so awful.. My heart goes to them ...
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