Fires in Australia. Photo:EPA
Millions of hectares of bush burned, 33 people and a billion of animals dead. The investigation begins.
The World Daily | News Desk | MAY 25th 2020
On Monday (May 25th) in Australia, the first hearings of special commission began, to investigate the causes of the Australian forest fires. The fire consumed vast areas of the bush for several months, 33 people lost their lives, even a billion animals died, and hundreds of people lost their homes. The investigation will last six months.
The commission was appointed after extinguishing the last fires in February, which were sweeping through the east of Australia from September 2019. The investigation is to last six months and will assess the state of preparedness of the country for the next wave of fires and indicate any necessary changes in law to improve the reaction of the authorities.
The first two-week committee session - conducted virtually from Canberra - is devoted to climate change. The first auditions will be conducted there.
"The tragic loss of life, the destruction of homes, a significant loss of livestock and millions of hectares of forests, were devastating and still have a profound impact on people's lives and reconstruction," said Commission Chief Mark Binskin to Reuters.
During the months of fires in Australia, 12.5 million hectares of forests burned. As a result of the disaster, 33 people were killed, as well as about a billion animals. Over 3,000 families have lost their homes.
In January 2020, a state of emergency was issued in Canberra, the capital of Australia, due to the fires. It was the first state of emergency related to the fire hazard introduced in the Australian Capital Territory, which is the city of Canberra and adjacent areas, since 2003 (when in one day four people were killed and fire destroyed almost 500 houses).
© The World Daily 2020 | News Desk
Related: The Burning Continent
