SYDNEY – Australian officials used a respite on Monday from fierce wildfires which killed 24 people across the country’s southeast to reopen blocked roads and evacuate people who have been trapped for days.
Authorities redoubled their efforts to provide supplies and repatriate thousands of people who have been trapped by fire lines in coastal towns for several days.
“What we are focusing on here is the human cost and the rebuilding cost for people’s lives,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, as he announced the funding of A$2 billion ($1.4 billion) over two years to the newly formed National Bushfire Recovery Agency.
The bushfire season started earlier this year following a three-year drought that has left much of the country’s bushland tinder-dry and vulnerable to fires. Over six-million hectares (15-million acres) of land have been destroyed in New South Wales and Victoria states.(Reuters)
