No respite from Australia's raging bushfires

There seems to be no respite from Australia’s raging bushfires. Fire continues to burn across several regions of the country including New South Wales and Victoria which have received some relief following rains. Officials have warned that temperatures would again rise by Thursday. They also said huge fires in Victoria and New South Wales could meet to create a larger mega blaze.

Officials said that nearly 150 fires were still burning across the state. The crisis has intensified over the past week resulting in forced evacuation in number of towns. Water and power infrastructure has been significantly damaged due to the fire. Around 25 people have lost their lives so far. The bushfire crisis has taken a very heavy toll with more than 1,500 homes already lost in the



fire.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced an additional 2 billion dollars over two years to a new agency to coordinate a national response to rebuild communities and livelihoods following the deadly crisis. The National Bushfire Recovery Agency would be funded with an initial 2 billion Australian dollars (1.38 billion US dollar) to ensure the families, farmers and business owners hit by the crisis would get the much-needed support to recover.

In South Australia, the fire had burnt about a third of the Kangaroo Island and is believed to have killed approximately half of the Island's Koala population. All time high temperatures and months of severe drought have fuelled the massive bushfires across Australia, since September last year.