REDSTAR Hangzhou March 2020

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HANGZHOU AUSSIE
BUSHFIRE FUNDRAISER
By Jared Thompson
Undoubtedly, one of the
worst bushfire seasons
in Australian history
ravaged the countryside
and a large part of the country
is still picking up the pieces
and trying to move forward.
Over 10 million hectares
(100,000 kilometres squared)
were consumed over the last
5 months since they began,
making this season of bushfires
ten times worse than the fires
that afflicted the Amazon last
year. 6,000 buildings and homes
were consumed and, one of the
most staggering numbers to
comprehend by far is the loss
of animal life, many of whom
were already endangered to
begin with. It’s hard to fathom,
but wildlife groups estimate
that over 1,000,000,000 animals
died in the fires over the last
half of a year. It was so bad that
the wild koala’s populations
have been pushed nearly
to the brink of extinction.
After dealing with one of
the most dangerous natural
disasters we can imagine, parts
of Australia are now being
hit with yet another natural
disaster: flooding. There has
been so much rain recently that
dams that were at a low level
because of years of drought, are
now overflowing. The region
of the Nepean Dam, which
is one of the dams that gives
Sydney it’s water supply, has
been burdened with over 700
millimetres of rainfall. To put this
in perspective, that’s 100mm
more rain than Melbourne sees
throughout the whole year.
People are outside with water
34 redstarhangzhou.com