Patuloy ang pagbangon ng mga biktima ng bush fire sa Australia na ngayon ay kinakaharap rin ang problema sa COVID-19 pandemic.
Sa panayam ng Star FM Baguio kay Andrew Johns, isang Australian firefighter sa New South Wales, inilarawan nito ang naging pinsala ng malalaking sunog na nagsimula noong nakaraang taon.
“Australia has had extensive fires here since early September 2019. There were approximately 20 million hectares of land burned which is a huge amount of country. About 6,000 buildings were destroyed. An estimated billion animals were killed including native animals, like koalas and kangaroos and very sadly, 34 people also died.”
Ikinuwento rin nito na bilang isa sa mga frontliner ng naturang krisis ay marami ang sakripisyo na kanilang ginawa para lamang makapagbigay serbisyo at maagapan at maapula ang nangyayaring bush fire.
“I’m away from my family. It does put a bit of a strain physically and emotionally. There were some pretty horrific sights, you know. They were very, very aggressive, very strong fires that were really impossible to put out. We were only there to try and protect property and life and the environment as best as we could.”
Inalala rin naman nito ang pagbuhos ng ulan noong buwan ng Pebrero na ipinagpapasalamat nila dahil nakatulong ito ng malaki para matapos rin ang sunog sa malaking bahagi ng bansa.
“Thankfully, we have had lots of rain pouring in the past months which has put out all of the fires.”
Marami naman umano silang natutunan dahil sa matinding suliraning kanilang hinarap sa bansa. Dahil sa laki ng pinsala ng sunog, inamin ni Johns na nakikita niyang mas magiging handa na ang kanilang gobyerno sakaling magkaroon muli ng ganitong problema.
“Fires in Australia with climate change are going to be much worse. So I think as a country, we’ve realized that we need to be better prepared for fires. So we need better resources and the government will no doubt look at spending more money on more fire trucks, and also, more aerial fire appliances that are used to drop water and fire retardant on fires.”
Sinabi rin nito na nakikita nilang ilang taon pa bago sila tuluyang makakabangon mula sa trahedyang naranasan nila ng mga nagdaang buwan. Positibo naman ito na magiging maayos na ang kalagayan ng bansa kahit may krisis muling kinaharap sa kasalukuyan.
Malaki rin umanong suporta ang kanilang natanggap mula sa maraming mga tao na tumutulong para sa kanilang tuluyang pagbangon.
“There’s another crisis right now. So for us, the recovery is going to take many, many years. I think it will take people many years to overcome the emotional issues associated with losing everything, losing loved ones. But as a society, we’re working hard and there’s been a lot of money raised in fundraising and many musicians and artists have had concerts to raise money to try and give back to these people so that they can rebuild their lives. There’s also a really strong support for the wildlife in Australia. As a country, we’ve realized that we need to be better prepared for fires.”
