Devestated.............
Brooke here, Opy has very kindly turned her blog over to me again today – this time it didn’t cost me anything, no chicken nuggets, no cheeseburgers – not a thing. At any other time, I would think this very strange, but given the circumstances as to why I have requested to post on her blog – I know she understands.
DEVESTATION, HELL ON EARTH, HORROR, ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING, all phrases that, unfortunately, have become all to common to us Aussies at the moment – especially us Victorians.
THEY ARE ALL GONE, WE HAVE LOST EVERYTHING, I CAN’T FIND MY FAMILY, I HAD TO LEAVE MY PETS, THERE WAS NOTHING WE COULD DO, I SAW PEOPLE ON FIRE, all phrases that send the tears streaming down my face, over and over again.
I am sure most of you are aware of the horrific bushfires that we experienced on Saturday February 7th 2009 – and that we are still living with on a day to day basis now. I know it has made the worldwide news – but to actually be here, experiencing it, is truly the most terrifying thing that I have ever been through – and something that I never want to live through again.
On a personal level – Greg and I, Opy & Charlie are safe. Saturday afternoon was pretty scary – and we had packed a few things (dog stuff mainly !) to evacuate if needed. We back on to the Bunyip National Park, which is where the main cause of concern was on Saturday. We went from not being able to smell a whiff of smoke in the morning – to having the wind change on Saturday afternoon, and for it to become a very real threat to us. The temperature was over 50degrees celcius, and I can’t even begin to guess what the windspeed was – Greg and I had to yell to eachother to be heard over the wind outside, so that should tell you how bad it was. Fortunately for us, but unfortunate for others, the wind changed again – and we became “safe” again. We remained on high alert – and today, three days later – I still have the dogs stuff packed up “just in case”.
We touched bases with a few other DWB/CWB pals that are down here and ascertained that we were all okay – and it was very comforting to know that if we needed a place to evacuate to, that our pals were offering their homes to us. That’s what friends are all about – being there when you need eachother.
We never realized the magnitude of what was happening until we watched the News on late Saturday night – then the horror of what was going on fully hit. Whole communities were being wiped out, people were being burnt alive in their cars, trying to escape. No one stood a chance – one minute people were thinking the fire was far enough away that they were to just “keep an eye on things”, within 3 minutes – the fire was on them – destroying everything in it’s path.
The death toll is at 173 at the moment – it will get higher, much higher. There are area’s that can’t even be accessed yet – so many are missing still – these people are gone, they didn’t stand a chance. Over 800 homes have been destroyed – people have nothing.
We are so thankful to all the Firefighters – many of them are volunteers, what they have had to cope with just can’t be imagined. They are all heroes.
These communities will rebuild – they will pull together and get through this. Already over 12 million dollars has been raised through public donations. I am proud to be an Aussie at the moment – times are tough financially, yet our country is working together to help those who have lost everything. Kid’s are donating their pocket money - $5 here, $10 there – it makes me hopeful that the future generation of this country may not be as self centred and money hungry as the current generation. (Myself included, at times).
To the “people” who deliberately lit many of these fires – you deserve to go through the horror of what many who lost their lives went through – jail is too good for you. “An eye for an eye” – you will get yours, karma is a bitch !!!!
When Greg gets back from Sydney – we will be trying to come up with an idea of how we can help all the displaced pets and animals. It is fantastic that the humans are getting so much support – but we need to help the animals, they can’t help themselves, we need to be their voice.
I have never asked for help from the DWB community – and I know that you are all so supportive of issues in your own countries, which is wonderful – but I will be getting down on my hands and knees and begging for your support when we announce the best way that we can help. I will be liasing with the RSPCA this afternoon to see what they need, and what is the best way to proceed – and Greg and I will talk about it over the weekend. We are a long way away from you all – but we consider the DWB community family – and we need to make a difference with this, it really is THAT important.
Thank you all for checking in with us and making sure we are okay – it means a lot. Physically, we are okay – emotionally, we are drained and just so saddened.
Thank you for reading – I know I haven’t articulated myself as well as I would have liked, but I am sure you can all grasp the sadness we all feel down here through this post.
“There, but for the grace of god, go I”.
Brooke
If you are interested in reading more about the bushfires - please see The Age newspaper.
As you all know, our very first DWB member - Bogart (the very handsome devil)'s dad, Klaus - is very, very ill at the moment.
As you all know, our very first DWB member - Bogart (the very handsome devil)'s dad, Klaus - is very, very ill at the moment.
