Mother Earth

Its interesting to me that the authorities are saying that Australia will have more catastrophic natural disasters due to global warming and we still have sceptics out there. In our country, alone, we have fires in one part of the country and cyclones and ridiculous rain patterns in the other parts. A few months ago, southern Queensland flooded. Brisbane was pretty much all under water. The death toll was one too many, with thirty-five perishing, which will probably rise as seventy-two are missing. Countless houses and businesses destroyed with Brisbane at a stand-still. It will take months to get back on track. At the same time, northern Victoria was flooded, bearing down on farms which had just been through the droughts and now flooded. Thankfully, there were no deaths in Victoria. In Perth around the same time, there were fires which took houses.

Then last week saw Cyclone Yasi hit northern Queensland which has left them powerless and without drinking water. Their water treatment plant was hit pretty bad which means they may be off power and no water for a week. The water they do have is coming straight from the dams, which needs to be boiled twice to drink. Which is hard to fathom. Rooves were blown off; trees were at 90 degree angles; windows smashed in; houses and businesses destroyed with the impact of a very pissed off mother earth. Unfortunately, one man has perished, with three people missing. Banana plantations which were hit five years ago with cyclone Larry have been hit again with Yasi.

Now, in Melbourne, we see the aftermath of cyclone Yasi as its still on its path downwards. For the past twelve hours, we have seen continuous rain. Its been heavy. Flash flooding has hit the CBD and parts of it are under water. St Kilda has been without power.

The wonderful part is that there has been a wonderful human spirit through these times; people volunteering their time and skills across the country. People giving money. That's patronism. That's Australia. The Victorian fires in 2009 saw comradery in many forms. People are still digging deep for them, and this will continue with the victims in Queensland and elsewhere. Its what Australians do.