Gamers are Raising Funds to Help Battle Australian Bush Fires

Thanks uba

The scale of this is incomprehensible.
Yes property has been destroyed but I have huge concerns for the future in terms of the ecosystem and how it will hold up.

I was reading this morning that 80% of the national park where I live has been destroyed, and the story is similar elsewhere. To put that in perspective an area of wilderness the size of Manhattan and long Island has been burnt directly to the north and a similar area to the south of me.  And across the country an area the size of Portugal.

Many of the plant species here rely on some burning from time to time but they need a quick burn and they need rain not long after, which just hasn't happened.  When patches are burnt out  there can also be cross pollination from unaffected areas. But this time there are basically no unaffected areas either. Essentially the bushland we have has all gone and will struggle to regrow.

I say this because it's truly awesome how much people around the world care about the situation  but a lot of the focus (and money) is going on rebuilding homes and helping the firefighting service and injured animals. Which is all needed. But the most massive issue, the one that will affect us most longterm, is whether or not these areas can regenerate. Our governments previously stripped funding from the National parks services, which undoubtedly contributed to the spread of the fires, but will continue to contribute to their inability to try and deal with the scale of the disaster ecologically speaking. Focus needs to be put on this.

One good little bit of news yesterday was that it was confirmed the Wollemi Pine, the so called living fossil, survived as it's gorge was protected specifically. But yeah, I fear for the rest.

It has been intense but I think I live in the luckiest town down here. Fire came to our doorstep (quite literally in a friend of mine's case) but didn't take a single house.  And the rains have come for us. But overall I'm almost in mourning and anxiously waiting till it's safe enough to go have a look and see what has survived out there.

Thank you MC for taking the time to describe and explain what is going on. It is terrifying. The scale of it is so difficult to comprehend. I think the whole world is mourning with you. Can Australia and the world ever really recover from this?

^^Our town came very close to burning down last summer here in the USA. Even with our lucky escape, your description of mourning encapsulates exactly how I feel these days about the current state and fate of the ecosystem and forest around here.

Stay safe.

I've barely touched the surface there, more about my concerns, but if anyone wants any info happy to share.

There is a bit in the media the last few days about how the fire services
- the bulk of which are filled by volunteers - are able to spend donated money, for one thing (certainly not on paying volunteers a wage).

Anyway. Cheers for the best wishes. I didn't realise you were close to wildfire territory Gary, you stay safe too, the scary thing about some of our regions has been how readily pre-burnt areas have gone up.


Couple of screen shots from my app this morning centred around the town where I live so you can see the scale and how lucky (and well defended) we were. I know several people from other towns who have lost property. The image on the left is about 150 kilometres across. On the right is my town, 10k or less across of say that one. The dark grey areas are burnt out.

PC Gamers: There is also currently a humble bundle with 100% of the proceeds going to the cause. www.humblebundle.com/games/australia-fir...ampaign=tile_index_1