{"id":112556,"date":"2009-02-09T11:39:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-09T11:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weblogs.madrimasd.org\/\/universo\/archive\/2009\/02\/09\/112556.aspx"},"modified":"2010-01-22T03:50:56","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T02:50:56","slug":"australia-sequias-olas-de-calor-incendios-forestales-inundaciones-y-cocodrilos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/2009\/02\/09\/112556","title":{"rendered":"Australia: Sequ\u00edas, Olas de Calor, Incendios Forestales, Inundaciones y Cocodrilos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Decimos en Espa\u00f1a que \u201cnunca llueve a gusto de todos\u201d, as\u00ed como que a \u201cperro flaco todo son pulgas\u201d. Pues bien, <\/span>los australianos est\u00e1n viviendo una gran pesadilla ambiental a la que se le unen los serios efectos de la crisis econ\u00f3mica<\/span><\/b>. <\/span>Ninguna de las noticias que vamos a ofrecer hoy es nueva<\/span><\/b>, por sorprendente que parezca. Sin embargo, <\/span>la magnitud de algunas y la confluencia de todas ya resulta ser tan usual<\/span><\/b>. Se trata del<\/span> continente m\u00e1s \u00e1rido del planeta<\/span><\/b>. Pero a ello se le suma la <\/span>sequ\u00eda m\u00e1s aguda que ofrecen los registros hist\u00f3ricos<\/span><\/b>, una <\/span>tremenda ola de calor que afecta al sur e inundaciones en el norte<\/span><\/b>, con el a\u00f1adido de<\/span> los cocodrilos campando a sus anchas <\/span><\/b>por algunas localidades y que parece probable que ya hayan dado cuenta de una pobre criatura de cinco a\u00f1os. Eso s\u00ed, <\/span>bajo los pavorosos incendios que azotan a los ambientes meridionales<\/span><\/b> (y que ya han causado m\u00e1s de 189 v\u00edctimas humanas, 400.000 hect\u00e1reas, 20.000 afectados y miles de casas calcinadas actualizado a d\u00eda 17 de febrro de 2009), <\/span>subyacen algunos al parecer ocasionados por pir\u00f3manos y otros por negligencia <\/span><\/b>(sumando un 40 por ciento de los focos, seg\u00fan las autoridades). Las grandes extensiones des\u00e9rticas y semides\u00e9rticas  <\/span>parecen haber quedado t\u00f3rridamente a salvo. Hoy, 9 de febrero de 2009, el bolet\u00edn de noticias <\/span>Terradaily <\/span><\/b>se encontraba repleto de notas que daban cuenta de estos sucesos, as\u00ed como de la grave sequ\u00eda que sufre tambi\u00e9n China (a penas recuperada de inundaciones previas y el gran terremoto del a\u00f1o pasado). En fin, <\/span>toda una calamidad que afectan a nuestros \u201cvecinos\u201d de las ant\u00edpodas<\/span><\/b>. Reiteramos que <\/span>nada es nuevo pero<\/span><\/b>\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Incendios en Australia Fuente: Ecoist<\/font><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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La sequ\u00eda est\u00e1 siendo de lo m\u00e1s aguda y prolongada de la historia de este pa\u00eds<\/span><\/b> Esta se encuentra afectando a la zona con mayor potencial agr\u00edcola<\/span><\/b>, por lo que la producci\u00f3n de alimentos se encuentra seriamente afectada<\/span><\/b>, lo cual agudiza la crisis econ\u00f3mica que castiga nuestra sociedad globalizada. La sequ\u00eda, junto a la ola de calor y, como no el viento, ha dado lugar a la aparici\u00f3n de grandes incendios que<\/span><\/b> han afectado ya a m\u00e1s de 400.000 hect\u00e1reas del pa\u00eds, calcinando algunas zonas urbanas completamente<\/span><\/b>. A d\u00eda de hoy ya se han contabilizado m\u00e1s de cien v\u00edctimas humanas<\/span><\/b>. Sin embargo las cifras ascender\u00e1n, seg\u00fan las autoridades. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Australia: Zona Afectada por la sequ\u00eda y hola de calor. Fuente: NASA<\/font><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Por su parte, no es inusual que en algunas zonas las inundaciones vengan acompa\u00f1adas de la visita de los cocodrilos, que as\u00ed campan a sus anchas por algunas urbes<\/span><\/b>. Al parecer existen evidencias de que un ni\u00f1o puede haber sido v\u00edctima de estos<\/span><\/b> turistas indeseados. La verdad es que los ciudadanos australianos deben estar m\u00e1s que preocupados, aterrados, con tanta calamidad. Esperemos que este vendaval de desastres acabe lo antes posible. Ser\u00eda largo, aunque muy interesante, analizar varios de estos problemas por separado. Por ejemplo, el de los efectos de la sequ\u00eda en la agricultura, ya que algo ha tenido que ver la planificaci\u00f3n territorial<\/span><\/b>. Ahora bien, no seremos los espa\u00f1oles y menos en estos momentos, los que podamos dar lecciones en la materia. En este post tan solo os doy cuenta de las noticias que reproduzco debajo de Terradaily<\/span><\/b>.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mapa bioclim\u00e1tico de Australia: Fuente. Encarta<\/font><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Como comentarios finales tan solo a\u00f1adir que el sur de Australia \u201cdisfruta\u201d de una zona de clima mediterr\u00e1neo (marr\u00f3n negro al sur<\/span><\/b>). Tambi\u00e9n se presenta una lista de desastres previos<\/span><\/b>, muchos de los cuales se dan en el verano austral<\/span><\/b>, es decir durante estos meses. Muchos de vosotros tambi\u00e9n habr\u00e9is o\u00eddo varias veces el efecto de devastadores incendios en California, otra de las cinco regiones mediterr\u00e1neas del mundo<\/span><\/b>. En todos estos casos, a la incidencia \u201cnatural\u201d de los incendios, cabe a\u00f1adir la presencia de pir\u00f3manos y de negligencias de los ciudadanos<\/span><\/b>. Lamentablemente no somos los \u00fanicos que sufrimos a enfermos mentales y est\u00fapidos.   <\/span>Tengo menos noticias de tales desastres de las otras dos zonas mediterr\u00e1neas del hemisferio sur, a saber parte de Chile y Sud\u00e1frica<\/span><\/b>. Espero y deseo que no sea por mi desinformaci\u00f3n, sino por la ausencia de noticias al respecto.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Juan Jos\u00e9 Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Cocodrilos llegan a algunas ciudades tras inundaciones. Fuente: Amazing Australia<\/font><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Death Stalks Australia As Fire And Heat Kill Hundreds<\/font><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

by Staff Writers; <\/span>Kinglake<\/span><\/st1:city>, <\/span>Australia<\/span><\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> (AFP) <\/span>Feb 9, 2009<\/span><\/st1:date><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span>The death toll from the worst wildfires in <\/span><\/b>Australia<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>‘s history — described by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as \u00abhell in all its fury\u00bb — has risen to 108, authorities said Monday. Firefighters in the southeast of the country were<\/span><\/b> battling dozens of blazes amid fears the death toll could rise still further, as emergency crews sifted through the charred remains of entire towns razed in the inferno<\/span><\/b>. People died in their cars as they attempted to escape the fast-advancing flames — smouldering wrecks on roads outside this town told of failed attempts to flee — while others were burnt to death in their homes. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Police and a spokesman for the Department of Sustainability and Environment in <\/span><\/b><\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> state put the death toll at 108 early Monday<\/span><\/b>, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported. But there were fears it could rise yet as<\/span><\/b> medics treated badly burned survivors and emergency crews made it through to more than 700 houses destroyed by the fires, some of which have been blamed on arsonists. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Thousands of survivors jammed community halls, schools and other makeshift accommodation as troops and firefighters battled to control huge blazes fed by tinder-box conditions after a once-in-a-century heatwave. The devastating fires have affected around 3,000 square kilometres (1,200 square miles) — an area larger than <\/span><\/b><\/span>Luxembourg<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> or nearly three times the size of <\/span><\/b>Hong Kong<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place>. \u00abHell in all its fury has visited the good people of <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> in the last 24 hours. <\/span>Many good people lie dead, many injured,\u00bb Rudd told reporters Sunday, deploying army units to help 3,000 firefighters battling the flames. <\/span>The number of dead has risen steadily as rescue crews reach townships that bore the brunt of the most intense firestorm northwest of <\/span>Melbourne<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, which survivors likened to a nuclear bomb explosion. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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The death toll has far surpassed the 75 killed in wildfires in <\/span><\/b>Victoria<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and neighbouring <\/span><\/b>South Australia<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> in 1983<\/span><\/b>. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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The latest fires in Australia’s southeast flared on Saturday, fanned by high winds after a heatwave sent temperatures soaring to 46 degrees Celsius<\/span><\/b> (115 Fahrenheit), and continued to burn out of control Sunday. <\/span>They wiped out the pretty resort <\/span>village<\/span><\/st1:placetype> of <\/span>Marysville<\/span><\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> and largely destroyed the town of <\/span>Kinglake<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, north of <\/span>Melbourne<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, with houses, shops, petrol stations and schools razed to the ground. Marie Jones said she was staying at a friend’s house in Kinglake, where at least 18 people perished, when a badly burnt man arrived with his infant daughter saying his wife and other child had been killed. \u00abHe was so badly burnt,\u00bb she told the Melbourne Age’s website.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00abHe had skin hanging off him everywhere and his little girl was burnt, but not as badly as her dad, and he just came down and he said ‘Look, I’ve lost my wife, I’ve lost my other kid, I just need you to save (my daughter)’.\u00bb <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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An AFP photographer who made it into Kinglake described a road strewn with wrecked cars telling of desperate, failed attempts to escape. The cars appeared to have crashed into each other or into trees as towering flames put an end to their desperate flight from the town. Some did not even make it onto the road, said Victoria Harvey, a resident waiting at a roadblock to be allowed to return to the site of her destroyed home. She told reporters of a local businessman who lost two of his children as the family tried to flee. \u00abHe apparently went to put his kids in the car, put them in, turned around to go grab something from the house, then his car was on fire with his kids in it and they burnt,\u00bb she said. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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In Kinglake, scores of homes were levelled along with shops and the school. <\/span>The smouldering ruins of the town were deserted except for police and forensic experts. <\/span>Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said there was no doubt that arsonists were behind some of the fires. \u00abSome of these fires have started in localities that could only be by hand, it could not be natural causes,\u00bb he said. Police have warned that arsonists could face murder charges<\/span><\/b>. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, in Queensland, in the northeast of the country, where some towns have been inundated for a week by cyclonic rains<\/span><\/b>, two people were missing after their car was swept away — and a crocodile is believed to have taken a boy. <\/span><\/b>\u00abThe boy was walking with his seven-year-old brother <\/span><\/b>earlier this morning when he followed his dog into floodwaters,\u00bb police said in a statement. \u00abHe disappeared in the water and his brother saw a large crocodile in the vicinity of his disappearance.\u00bb<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Much of the state has been declared a disaster zone, with an area of more than a million square kilometres (386,100 square miles) and 3,000 homes affected by floods<\/span><\/b>. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Major Australian bushfire disasters<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

1.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Feb 7-8, 2009<\/span><\/st1:date>: 84 dead, 640 homes lost as <\/span>Australia<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>‘s worst bushfire disaster hits rural <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, mainly northwest of <\/span>Melbourne<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

2.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Jan 10 2005<\/span><\/st1:date>: Nine dead and 110 injured as fires sweep through the <\/span>Eyre Peninsula<\/span><\/st1:place>, <\/span>South Australia<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

3.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Jan 18, 2003<\/span><\/st1:date>: Four dead, more than 100 injured and 500 homes destroyed in <\/span>Canberra<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

4.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Dec 24, 2001<\/span><\/st1:date> – <\/span>Jan 7, 2002<\/span><\/st1:date>: 109 homes destroyed, no fatalities in <\/span>Blue Mountains<\/span><\/st1:place>, <\/span>Hunter<\/span><\/st1:placename> <\/span>Valley<\/span><\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> and western <\/span>Sydney<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city> suburbs in <\/span>New South Wales<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

5.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Dec 2, 1998<\/span><\/st1:date> – Five firefighters killed at <\/span>Linton<\/span><\/st1:city>, <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:state><\/st1:place><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

6.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>January, 1994: Four dead, 200 homes destroyed when fires hit <\/span>Sydney<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city>‘s northern, western and southern outskirts<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

7.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Feb 16, 1983<\/span><\/st1:date>: 75 dead, 2,300 homes destroyed in \u00abAsh Wednesday\u00bb bushfires in <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and <\/span>South Australia<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

8.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Feb 7, 1967<\/span><\/st1:date>: 62 dead, 1,300 homes destroyed in <\/span>Hobart<\/span><\/st1:city>, <\/span>Tasmania<\/span><\/st1:state><\/st1:place><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

9.       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Jan 8, 1969<\/span><\/st1:date>: 22 dead, 230 homes lost in <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

10.    <\/span><\/span><\/span>Jan 14-<\/span>Feb 14, 1944<\/span><\/st1:date>: 32 dead, 700 homes lost in central and western <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

11.    <\/span><\/span><\/span>Dec 22, 1944<\/span><\/st1:date>: 10 dead in grassfires in <\/span>Wangaratta<\/span><\/st1:city>, <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:state><\/st1:place><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

12.    <\/span><\/span><\/span>Jan 13, 1939<\/span><\/st1:date>: 71 dead, 700 homes destroyed in \u00abBlack Friday\u00bb fires in <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

13.    <\/span><\/span><\/span>February-March, 1922: 60 dead in Gippsland, eastern <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, 31 in a single day, Feb 14Sources: Geoscience <\/span>Australia<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>, NSW Fire Brigades, ABC. Photo courtesy of AFP.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span>Survivors tell of Australian bushfire horror<\/font><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

by Staff Writers; Kinglake (AFP) <\/span>Feb 9, 2009<\/span><\/st1:date><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n


Survivors of <\/span>Australia<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>‘s deadly bushfires on Sunday described how a thick blanket of black ash blotted out the sun, leaving only a \u00abhorrible orange glow\u00bb as flames bore down on their homes. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Residents in the worst-hit areas northwest of Melbourne, where most the reported 93 fatalities occurred, told how they lost loved ones to the flames and desperately tried to help the injured, including children. Entire townships were razed to the ground, with burnt-out cars strewn across the road outside one of the worst-hit communities, Kinglake, standing in mute testimony to residents who made doomed attempts to escape. An AFP photographer who reached the town described how the cars had crashed into each other or into trees as towering flames put an end to their flight from the town. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Nearby, the once picturesque hamlet of Marysville was reduced to smoking ruins. \u00abMarysville, which was one the loveliest townships in <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, if not <\/span>Australia<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>, has just about been wiped out,\u00bb said pastor Ivor Jones, whose own home in the town was destroyed. More than 700 homes have been destroyed in total, many around Kinglake, where shops, petrol stations, the local police station and schools were also destroyed. At least 22 died in the town, with the toll expected to rise as police complete the grisly task of sifting through the ashes for bodies. Kinglake residents who fled ahead of the fire were kept out by police roadblocks when they tried to return Sunday.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Chris Harvey, who has lived in the town for 22 years and lost his home, believed authorities were trying to shield locals from the horrors awaiting them.  <\/span>\u00abThere’s a five-car pile-up on the road into town, all the cars are burnt,\u00bb <\/span>Harvey<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.  <\/span>\u00abIt’s going to look like <\/span>Hiroshima<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city> I tell you, it’s going to look like a nuclear bomb. There’s animals dead all over the road.\u00bb Some residents never even had a chance to flee, with <\/span>Harvey<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city>‘s daughter <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> telling of a local businessman who lost two of his children as the family prepared to make a dash for safety. \u00abHe apparently went to put his kids in the car, put them in, turned around to go grab something from the house, then his car was on fire with his kids in it and they burnt,\u00bb <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> said. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Witnesses told of trees \u00abexploding\u00bb with the intensity of the heat and recounted fire fronts that raced towards them with terrifying speed. Strathewen resident Mary Avola escaped the flames but her husband of 43 years, Peter, died after they fled their home in separate cars trying to reach a nearby sporting oval. \u00abHe was behind me for a while and we tried to reach the oval but the gates were locked,\u00bb Avola told <\/span>Melbourne<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city>‘s Herald Sun website. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00abHe just told me to go and that’s the last time I saw him.\u00bb <\/span>Authorities have found his body. Marie Jones said she was staying at a friend’s house in Kinglake when a badly burnt man arrived with his infant daughter, saying his wife and other child had been killed. \u00abHe was so badly burnt,\u00bb she told the Melbourne Age’s website.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00abHe had skin hanging off him everywhere and his little girl was burnt, but not as badly as her dad, and he just came down and he said ‘Look, I’ve lost my wife, I’ve lost my other kid, I just need you to save (my daughter).'\u00bb Callers to national radio described how they were huddling in swimming pools as flames approached their homes, and of how children were terrified by the powerful winds, furnace-like heat and an eerie orange glow dominating the sky.  <\/span>\u00abIt was so scary, my little girl, she’s five years of age and… she’s emotionally traumatised by what’s happened today — the horrible orange glow,\u00bb said a caller who identified himself as Roger from Traralgon South. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Jay Cherie described her family’s nightmare drive from Kinglake to safety though a raging inferno. \u00abWhen the power went out I madly started to try and pack some things. My husband came running into the house and said, ‘grab the kids, grab the cat, we’ve got to get out’,\u00bb she said.In the car \u00abwe had fire coming in on the right-hand side of us on a paddock and we had houses to the left of us on fire. \u00abMy little girl was saying to me, ‘Mum am I going to see my friends again?’, she also said to me, ‘Mum am I going to live tomorrow?'\u00bb <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Australian wildfire arsonists face murder charges: police<\/font><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

by Staff Writers; Sydney (AFP) <\/span>Feb 8, 2009<\/span><\/st1:date><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n


Arsonists responsible for starting Australian wildfires which killed at least 84 people and destroyed more than 600 homes could be charged with murder<\/span><\/b>, police warned Sunday. There was no doubt arsonists were behind some of the fires in Australia’s southeast, police said, shocking a nation watching transfixed as towering flames and grieving families dominated television screens.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00abSome of these fires have started in localities that could only be by hand, it could not be natural causes,\u00bb Victoria state Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said.\u00bbWe do need to get to the position where we can get our investigators and our forensic scientists into the fire scenes to do a full, thorough investigation,\u00bb he said. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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A police spokeswoman said anyone found to have started the fires — during a once-in-a-century heatwave which has turned the countryside into a tinderbox — would likely be charged with murder or manslaughter. \u00abThey can be charged with murder, it depends on the evidence that comes to hand,\u00bb the spokeswoman said. \u00abThey could be charged with manslaughter or they could be charged with murder.\u00bb <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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The government’s Australian Institute of Criminology released a report last week which said half of the nation’s 20,000 to 30,000 bushfires each year are deliberate. Twenty-six fires were burning in Victoria Sunday, with another 53 blazing throughout neighbouring New South Wales<\/span><\/b>. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Police in New South Wales said they had charged a 31-year-old man with deliberately lighting a fire<\/span><\/b> Saturday at Peats Ridge, north of the capital Sydney, which burnt 175 hectares (430 acres). <\/span>State premier Nathan Rees said arsonists faced a maximum 25 years’ jail. \u00abWe will throw the book at you if you are caught,\u00bb he said. \u00abThis is not fun, this is not clever, this is something that can kill people.\u00bb South Australia Premier Mike Rann said at least 20 percent of fires in the state this summer had been set by arsonists, with another 20 percent the result of \u00abstupidity or negligence<\/span><\/b>.\u00bb <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00abThese people are terrorists within our nation, they are the enemy within and we have to be increasingly vigilant about them,\u00bb he told reporters. <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state>‘s Country Fire Authority said one or more arsonists had relit fires which had been brought under control Saturday in the Gippsland region, in the state’s east. \u00abWe know we do have someone who is lighting fires in this community,\u00bb CFA deputy chief of operations Steve Warrington told ABC radio. \u00abWhile we often think it’s spotting (embers spreading the flames), we also know that there are people lighting fires deliberately.\u00bb Federal opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said those responsible for starting fires must be caught. \u00abIt is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime than arson,\u00bb he told reporters. \u00abAll Australians will expect the authorities to have the police to… be absolutely relentless in tracking down those responsible and ensuring they’re brought to justice.\u00bb <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Boy feared snatched by crocodile in Australian floodwaters<\/font><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

by Staff Writers; Sydney (AFP) <\/span>Feb 8, 2009<\/span><\/st1:date><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

A five-year-old boy is feared to have been snatched by a crocodile in floodwaters in northern <\/span><\/b><\/span>Australia<\/span><\/b><\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> while walking with his dog on Sunday, police said<\/span><\/b>.\u00bb The boy was walking with his seven-year-old brother earlier this morning when he followed his dog into floodwaters,\u00bb police said in a statement. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00abHe disappeared in the water and his brother saw a large crocodile in the vicinity of his disappearance.\u00bb. A large-scale search for the boy has been launched at <\/span>Cape<\/span><\/st1:placetype> <\/span>Tribulation<\/span><\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> in far north <\/span>Queensland<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. Police were also searching for two people missing after their car was washed away as they tried to drive through floodwaters south of Tully in <\/span>Queensland<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Much of the state has been declared a disaster zone, with an area of more than a million square kilometres (386,100 square miles) and 3,000 homes affected by floods due to torrential rains<\/span><\/b>. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate and others have been stranded in their homes. Rain continued to fall on the saturated state on Sunday, easing in the worst-hit north but threatening to flood areas that have so far escaped the monsoonal downpours. \u00abTomorrow, the monsoon trough continues its movements south and the bulk of the rain will head down towards Rockhampton,\u00bb a weather bureau spokesman said. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00abWe can expect local flooding to occur as that rain moves south.\u00bb While the north of eastern <\/span>Australia<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> has been swamped, the south has faced scorching heat and deadly wildfires. The death toll from bushfires<\/span><\/b> raging through <\/span>Victoria<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state> state soared to 35 Sunday and was set to mount in a disaster Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described as \u00abhell in all its fury.\u00bb Most of those killed were caught up in an inferno northwest of Melbourne, where entire townships had been razed in the firestorm, which continued to burn out of control Sunday<\/span><\/b>. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Decimos en Espa\u00f1a que \u201cnunca llueve a gusto de todos\u201d, as\u00ed como que a \u201cperro flaco todo son pulgas\u201d. Pues bien, los australianos est\u00e1n viviendo una gran pesadilla ambiental a la que se le unen los serios efectos de la crisis econ\u00f3mica. Ninguna de las noticias que vamos a ofrecer hoy es nueva, por sorprendente que parezca. Sin embargo, la magnitud de algunas y la confluencia de todas ya resulta ser tan usual. Se trata del continente m\u00e1s \u00e1rido del planeta. Pero a ello se le suma la sequ\u00eda m\u00e1s aguda que ofrecen los registros hist\u00f3ricos, una tremenda ola de\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[615,606,598],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":4}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112556"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112556"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134849,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112556\/revisions\/134849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}