To ask you to pray for the thousands of people trapped on a beach by fires in Victoria?

[TheClaws]

There are 4000 people from the town of Mallacoota, Victoria, Australia, that is currently being destroyed by fire. They most likely won’t have homes to return to. They all have life jackets on ready to take shelter in the water as embers rain down upon them. Fire personnel have just - as I post - told them to get in the water. Can you imagine how they must feel?

Australia at the moment is burning across 4 states. Where I am it is 45c and the smell of smoke is heavy. It is a terrible summer for us.

Absolutely- politics, religion and money are crucial to this whole mess- and what caused it.

Platitudes and prayers are not enough.
We need action. This situation will get worse as the world gets hotter.

@justilou1

I’ve just been reading up on Scott Morrison - a lot of weirdness there and I suspect scandals to come out at some point. You mentioned Barnaby Joyce being religious too. Are Australian politics religious? I expect it in the US but I’d always thought Australians weren’t as religious.

Money - who has what, and how much

This is relevant though, compassion for the people who cannot get insurance. Not the snarky comments about it being their fault or being stupid but it's very relevant.

Yes, it is. And yes exactly. But to jump on a soap box to declare that you won’t give to a rich country because reasons... (as happened on this thread) is crass and unnecessary. Also, who asked them to give anything?

Anyway. I’m scared, and cross, and I’ll say again, scared. So I’m also snappy because fuck all the chat. If you want to debate who said what to whom and whose fault it is, this is not the thread.

*If you want to debate who said what to whom and whose fault it is, this is not the thread.

Why not?

These fires have happened for a reason. It is possible to feel huge sympathy for the individuals involved and question the reasons behind the events.

I spoke to my family, they are 60km from the larger fires but are thinking of everybody who is caught up in this, as am I.

Why not?

These fires have happened for a reason. It is possible to feel huge sympathy for the individuals involved and question the reasons behind the events.

Maybe start a thread rather than derail a thread asking for thoughts and support?

It’s genuinely a worthy topic, and one I’d be pretty vocal in, but please not here and now where people are hurting and just asking for space to grieve and talk?

@speakout because this thread was started for support not debate

@bettybattenburg I hope your family remain safe

BettyJean Generally we are not as religious but there are factions within the conservative parties (and part of the labor party) that are much more conservative/Christian than your standard Aussie.

Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce are very good at barking about Christian values when it comes to marriage equality or a womens right to chose but less in line with WWJD when it comes to helping asylum seekers, poor people or not having extra marital affairs with your media advisor (Barnaby Joyce)

It’s our fault, vie voting them in and for keeping with the mindless consumerism.

To be fair, if none of the options are looking to tackle climate change, there isn’t much of a choice. Consumerism is only part of the problem but certainly contributes.

This government has been in power since 2013

Climate change has been a known problem for longer than that.

Sorry - my father was an independent loss/insurance assessor, we used to go with him to houses to assess damage. We would sit in the Ute and watch him work and what people said.

He always said, if you think you can afford to buy a house can you insure it, if not then work out what you can do with out. People with 2-3 cars on the drive way and no or minimal insurance were given little sympathy.
Do you need your $2000 TV?
If you live in a wood house - dont burn candles.

He saw and knew the devastation and he taught us some very hard lessons.

@BettyJean - I thought so to, prior to this Govt. Now it feels like five minutes to America here. It’s heartbreaking. (And embarrassing for those of us who believe in Science and the future, and have children we are trying to educate, etc...)

user147- my issue is the Red Cross should not be the ones helping those left homeless waiting for insurance - a very very rich Government should be.
None of our Govts have planned - but disaster funds in place or have back up plans. Natural disasters happen regularly in our bit of the world we should plan an awful lot better as a nation.

justilou totally. 45 days????? and I thought our UK govt was horrendous.

nodnol

I’m pretty sure we are not the only Christians who routinely pray for all the peoples of the world who are suffering due to disasters, persecution, warfare and disease, no matter their colour or religion. I’m sure special mention will be made to those in Australia this coming Sunday. Also a lot of Christians do a lot for charity work to help the suffering of others. Whether that’s locally, nationally or internationally. I know lots of people do not care for religion but please don’t belittle those who wish to pray or those who seek comfort from knowing others are praying for them. Just ignore us if you like.

He always said, if you think you can afford to buy a house can you insure it, if not then work out what you can do with out

I don’t know how it works for fire risk areas, but we used to rent a house that had no flood risk whatsoever. Then they built a housing estate half a mile up the hill from us. Our street flooded with the next big rainfall and was then allocated as high risk for flooding. Our home insurance rocketed to over ten times the previous amount because so few insurers would cover us.

We were lucky we could move, the owners in the street weren’t so lucky and I’d guess many of them struggled to be able to pay for it. They weren’t buying 2 grand TVs nor did they have 2 flash cars.

I left Australia for good just after the Black Saturday fires (our leaving was already completely planned, but it was even more of a relief to leave).
This horror, those who have never seen it, you have no idea. How fast the fires move, the winds which come from the fire devouring all the oxygen. The 1939 fires saw fully grown mountain ash ripped out of the ground by the wind. They grow to 70–114 m (230–374 ft).
The noise, like jet taking off right next to you. The red skies, the red sun, the stink of smoke, the burnt leaf fragments in the air.
I remember 1983 and 2009. My mother remembered 1939 as well.

colouringinpro

Har har har you yuk it up, never mind the people and animals dying.

Thanks, theclaws

Climate change is a bitch for the insurance companies isn’t it? I imagine the city boys will be rethinking any investments in insurance companies.

@bettybattenburg I hope your family remain safe

Thank you. They are fine where they are (Victoria, NSW and Queensland) they are extremely lucky as so many are really suffering from the fires obviously.

a better concept would have been 'to ask you to think of all those poor people and use less, fly less, drive less, breed less, have less'

if enough of us do this (and Australia's natural eco system is better managed) then we can do something. Talking to non-existent beings, writing letters, glueing yourself to roads (as suggested upthread) won't do anything.

mencken yes to at least do something constructive that will help.

Climate change is a bitch for the insurance companies isn’t it? I imagine the city boys will be rethinking any investments in insurance companies.

Too bad it will hit all our pensions, too.

But this is not the place, and maybe we should start a thread to discuss the political and environmental fallout.

Hope everybody stays safe.

But this is not the place, and maybe we should start a thread to discuss the political and environmental fallout.

Thank you please do.

I don’t believe in God or prayers or blah but I recognise that this thread is just asking for a listening ear, heart, mind.