Death toll rises from bushfires - New Zealand's source for World News on Stuff.co.nz

Huge Wandong blaze kills 14 people, rips through homes | theage.com.au

Some countries get cyclones, some get earthquakes or tsunamis, Australia gets nasty bushfires and seems to be getting them worse and worse as the years go by.

The reason I care as much as I do, is that the fires in Victoria are raging unusually strong and it seems like my aunt, uncle and cousins may have lost their home and possessions just like many other people in the area. They come from Wandong, and it's pretty much been wiped out.

The death count's rising every so often on the TV and so are the number of people injured, including some with severe burns who will likely go to the death count sooner or later. If the burns don't do it, the infection that sets in very well might. Hundreds of homes have been lost and the fires are still raging strong.

With reports of flames 60-70 feet high moving at speeds faster than the speed limit on country roads (often quite high), bushfires like these I see as an often overlooked disaster in terms of how severe people see natural disasters in general. You really have to witness it in action before the severity hits you...

Your thoughts?