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I drove back from Sydney last night and this morning. I have read lots of things in the papers, listened to it all on ABC radio, seen the pics on the net and on TV....... Nothing makes it sink in more than what I saw as I drove along the Hume at Seymour/Kilmore/Wallan this morning!!!! it is total devastation!!! I watched as people were pulling apart the rubble of what was their home!!! I can only imagine what Kinglake and Marysville are like!!! I have a good mate in Snobbs creek, who won't leave!!! I hope the wind pisses off and some rain comes!!!! I feel absolutely gutted after seeing it with my own eyes!

my uncle and his family live in neerim (west gisspland) and had masses of ash and embers reaching his property on saturday night... thankfully the wind didnt bring the fire up the hill... i had some undefinable urge to be there with my two younger cousins, so sent them messages of my love ... but still felt inadequate

as we know thw wind did unfortunately bring the fire to kinglake, where the most devastation seems to have taken place... it sickens me to my stomach to think of what it would be like to be caught in a situation like they faced, i will be donating to the red cross shortly...

the saddest thing for me was seeing 19 and 21 year old sisters stay on their property because they wouldn't abandon their horses... unfortunately they perished and now wont be able to enjoy any of life's wonders

RIP

$100,000+ donations from Coates staff plus 6 X 40' sea containers full of donations on their way via Hamptons Transport from the WA Goldfields to Victoria ..

>>> Everything counts but nothing can replace .........

I somehow managed to miss all the news completely on Sunday, so I woke up on Monday and switched the telly on. I stared at the telly in disbelief for an hour, then got up and immediately made a donation to Red Cross, then spent the rest of the day glued to the internet news and CFA sites. I was so very sad all day, and that night I felt so grateful that I was going to my own bed, in my own house. The saddest thing for me, having been in this position, was that I could empathise with the 000 EMD's who would have been taking calls from poeple who KNEW that they were about to die.

Jeff's employer is only a small company, and they are doubling all donations made by staff, as well as a seperate large amount. The hospital I work for is also making a large donation, and as a ward we are going to be donating to RSPCA Victoria.

Tally is somewhere near $50M last I saw and it will all be used I have no doubt, for me it really hit home when reding about one bloke who installed hose reels etc around his house but seeing the fire coming, took his 2 daughters to his inlaws just to be safe as they were far from the immediate path of the fire.

His house is still stnading, his daughters dead and his in laws in intensive care... i'm just gutted the more I read about it..

Spent 2 days at Whittlesea helping out and the amount of donations of stuff rocking in is just friggin awesome, got to the point we were turnig people away as we simply had nowhere to store stuff.

And anyone thinking of donating furniture.. if the house is still standing, then so is the furniture, if the house is razed, then furniture won't do em much good just yet..

Just listening to all the refuge centre reports, the best thing we can give is Money! They have loads of volunteers, loads of goods/food, but money will help immediately for whatever is needed.




Edit......For anyone thinking of donating a spare room, they no longer require any.

Been spending a lot of time with Major Colin Berris of the Salvo's the last couple of days.
He says the Charity organisations are so overwhelmed with Donations of goods that they are now setting up Large Warehouses to store it all in.
He reckons a large proportion of the money being collected will go on rent and mortgage payments for the 5000+ left homeless while they try to rebuild.
Can't the f***ing Banks be forced to suspend Mortgage payments and let the money be spent on houses for those who aren't covered by insurance. Another thing that worries me is that some Builders (not all) will try and cash in by doubleing or trippleing the rates they charge to build houses following a disaster like this.
This happened in Darwin after Tracy and also recently in Innisfail.
They should be monitored by a watchdog. The Major also says that we should keep this disater fresh in our minds because maybe 6 months down the track people are going to need Larger items like White and Browngoods to furnish their new homes.
My Company has already volunteered goods such as these not matter how long after the fires they are needed.
I can volunteer a 4 1/2 tonne truck if KSRC needs to cart any stuff for the relief effort. (although it is covered in Mr Rental signage)
I still remember Ash Wednesday like it was yesterday but the emotion disipates after a few years and the same mistakes get made over and over by the people responsible for keeping the Bush as safe as possible, if you want to clear trees around your House then you should be allowed to. Let some pencil dick councillor sit an a House surrounded by kindling in a Large fire then see what they think!

Hey Seiko, that's great of you to offer the use of a truck, and good on your organisation for helping out. I was very pleased to see an email from our GM Monday evening confirming that our company had made a fairly substantial donation too, and some of my Victorian colleagues were off work today volunteering their time and skills. I reckon Aussies from all walks of life really pull together in shitty situations like this.

As for the banks - according to this article it seems that most of the banks are doing the right thing - I didn't want to buy into the banks profit thread, but I thought Mick's post regarding the NAB was fantastic too.

Thats good to see but I'll believe it when I see it happen.
Three month's "possible" suspension of Mortgage payment's! How long do they think it will take to rebuild 1000+ Houses?

seiko1 wrote:Thats good to see but I'll believe it when I see it happen.
Three month's "possible" suspension of Mortgage payment's! How long do they think it will take to rebuild 1000+ Houses?

3 months is a usual figure for how long it takes for insurance settlements like this to be settled (though i would take it as a minimum). So home owners insurance would cover a lot of this, with payouts to cover the cost of rebuilding/furnishing (where the had insurance) some loans may just be payed out, I've read an article that said that some loans may just be disbanded and the loss written off by the banks, also some others may refuse to be given charity & keep going regardless.

A lot of strong & proud people out there, but still if you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it.

House count now 1831 anyway.
They seem to be trying to take attention away from the Deathtoll because I can't find any info on it. Last heard was 181 but it may be so high they wish to keep an already shocked Public in the dark for a little while.
Detective mate says they haven't even managed to search half of the houses yet!

seiko1 wrote:House count now 1831 anyway.
They seem to be trying to take attention away from the Deathtoll because I can't find any info on it. Last heard was 181 but it may be so high they wish to keep an already shocked Public in the dark for a little while.
Detective mate says they haven't even managed to search half of the houses yet!

todays press reports the search teams yesterday finding NINE bodies ...in one house

Finally figured out how to attach pics. (amazing what sleep does)
These are some of the photo's given to me by the Flowerdale bloke who's name just totally escapes me right now.
It got right to the edge of his drive and the wind changed direction.

wow, lucky sonofabitch. Unfortunately there weren't enough that fortunate.

News just reported houses lost in Belgrave!! For interstaters, that's outer metro area!