Simone Giuliani, Reuters 8 Feb 09;
WHITTLESEA, Australia (Reuters) - Australia's deadliest bushfires eased on Monday, but the death toll rose to 116 as firefighters and families searched for the missing in the twisted, charred ruins.
Police believe some of the fires, which razed rural towns near the country's second biggest city, Melbourne, were deliberately lit.
"There are no words to describe it other than mass murder," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told local television.
"These numbers (dead) are numbing ... and I fear they will rise further," he added.
One massive bushfire tore through several towns on Saturday night, destroying everything in its path. Many people died in cars trying to flee the inferno and others were killed huddled in their homes, yet some escaped by taking cover in swimming pools or farm reservoirs or hiding in their cellar.
"It's going to look like Hiroshima, I tell you. It's going to look like a nuclear bomb. There are animals dead all over the road," survivor Chris Harvey told the local media.
More than 750 houses were destroyed and some 78 people, with serious burns and injuries, are in hospital.
Many patients had burns to more than 30 percent of their bodies and some injuries were worse than the Bali bombings in 2002, said doctor De Villiers Smit at a hospital emergency department.
Wildfires are a natural annual event in Australia, but this year a combination of scorching weather, drought and tinder-dry bush has created prime conditions.
The fires, and major floods in the Queensland in the north, will put pressure on Rudd who is due to deliver a new climate policy in May. Green politicians are citing the extreme weather to back a tougher climate policy.
Scientists say Australia, with its harsh environment, is set to be one nations most affected nations by climate change.
"Continued increases greenhouse gases will lead to further warming and drier conditions in southern Australia, so the (fire) risks are likely to slightly worse," said Kevin Hennessy at the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Center (CSIRO).
The Victorian bushfire tragedy is the worst natural disaster in Australia in 110 years. In 1899, Cyclone Mahina struck Australia's northern Cape York, killing more than 400.
PLEAS FOR MISSING
Thousands of firefighters continued on Monday to battle the fire and scores of other blazes across the southern state of Victoria, as well as fires in neighboring New South Wales state.
While cooler, less windy, conditions helped firefighters, 10 major fires remained out of control in Victoria.
The fires burned out more than 330,000 ha (815,000 acres) of mostly bushland in Victoria, but a number of vineyards in the Yarra Valley were also destroyed.
Fire officials in Australia advised people to stay and defend homes, as most homes were damaged not by the actual firefront but burning embers blown onto roofs. Evacuation was a last resort as houses offered the best protection, the officials said, but if residents wished to leave they should go early.
"We really do need to look at our early warning systems, whether those ... are adequate and whether they can be enhanced on a national basis," said Attorney-General Robert McClelland.
As dawn broke in the town of Whittlesea, near Kinglake where most people died, shocked residents wandered the streets, some crying, searching for loved ones still missing.
"The last anyone saw of them, the kids were running in the house, they were blocked in the house," cried Sam Gents who had not heard from his wife Tina and three young children, aged 6, 13 and 15, since an inferno swept through Kinglake.
"If they let me up the mountain I know where to go (to try and find them)," Gents sobbed. Authorities sealed off Kinglake as bodies were still being recovered.
Handwritten notes pinned to a board in the Whittlesea evacuation center told the same sad story, with desperate pleas from people for their missing family and friends to contact them.
Rudd said it would take years to rebuild the devastated towns and has announced a A$10 million ($6.8 million) aid package.
The previous worst bushfire tragedy in Australia was in 1983 when 75 people were killed. The fires at the weekend were also the worst natural disaster in Australia in 110 years. In 1899, Cyclone Mahina struck Australia's northern Cape York, killing more than 400.
(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by David Fox)
