Ruminations

And in Australia, Drought, Heat, Wind, Wildfires

"If you receive instructions to leave, then you must leave."
"This is the only way to guarantee your safety."
Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews

"There are also potential health risks relating to evacuation such as food and water supply and quality, and communicable diseases from many people collected together in small places for prolonged periods."
"There are longer-term health risks to people directly affected, particularly relating to mental health and risk of injury and illness associated with the clean-up and rebuilding process."
"All of these factors need to be taken into consideration as we tackle this national public health crisis."
Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine president Linda Selvey

"We're not just talking about koalas, we're talking mammals, birds, plants, fungi, insects, other invertebrates, amphibians and bacteria and microorganisms that are critical to these systems."
[Individual animals might survive, but if their habitat is destroyed] it doesn't matter. They'll die anyway."
Manu Saunders, research fellow, insect ecologist, University of New England, Armidale, Australia

Veterinarians and volunteers treat koalas at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide, Australia, on Friday. Reuters

A wildlife-rich spot famous for tourism off the southeast coast of Australia saw Prime Minister Scott Morrison plead for foreign tourists to continue visiting parts of Kangaroo Island. Australia is dependent on its tourist dollars, all the more so at a time when it is being forced to expend huge sums of state treasury in its efforts to fight catastrophic bushfires. Foreign tourists, he hoped, would not be deterred by the fires, he stated on Wednesday. By Thursday they were being evacuated once again.

"I urge everyone to heed warnings, follow advice, and to head to the east part of the island, which is deemed safe at this point", urgently advised South Australia Fire Chief Mark Jones in an Adelaide briefing which also advised that a third of the island has been destroyed.

This is a fire season like no other for Australia. This fire season has resulted in the deaths of twenty-seven people, as the fires scorch through over 10.3 million hectares of land, an immense area the size of some countries, according to the federal government. A fire season that sees thousands of Australians homeless while even greater numbers were repeatedly evacuated due to the fires' volatility.

In the coastal town of Mallacoota, thousands of people were stranded on a beach, held there for days by the wildfires. A military evacuation ensued. They were able to return to the town, but soon afterward were advised to vacate again. "If we evacuate, where do we go?" asked a man who had decided to stay, and had spent New Year's Eve on a boat ramp when fire destroyed parts of his town.

Over a billion mammals, birds and reptiles -- some species known to exist nowhere else on Earth -- are held to have been affected or destroyed by the fires, according to a University of Sydney estimate. Thousands of disaffected Australians were scheduled to protest in a coordinated march to take place in nine cities, over the prime minister's response to the fires ravaging Australia.

People in Merimbula wearing masks against the thick smoke enveloping the town.

A Facebook page representing a protest planned for Melbourne organized by the Uni Students for Climate Justice stated: "We demand the government: Pay all firefighters and give the force full finding; Provide genuine relief and aid for affected communities; Begin the immediate rapid transition away from fossil fuels; Sack Scomo! [Scott Morrison]"

Emergency Services Minister for Victoria state Lisa Neville called for the cancellation or postponement of the scheduled march in consideration of expectations that the area will see worsening fires on Friday. "I don't want to see police having to pull people out of [fire-affected] communities to come in and manage a protest", she said.

Thousands of volunteer firefighters have had to leave their day jobs to fight the wildfires. Area residents, distraught over their prime minister's response to the emergencies have appealed to national and international aid groups to assist in fighting the fires and give aid to the aftermath of the fires.

Prime Minister Morrison has vowed to pay "whatever it takes" in helping affected communities, pledging that his government is prepared to commit an additional $1.4 billion toward recovery, topping up the tens of millions already allocated.