National Disaster

5000 homeless, 173 confirmed dead, 20 billion dollars damage. These numbers barely inidicate the enormity of what will go down as Australia's worst ever National Disaster. With record temperature's in the high 40's across the state and gale force North Westerly winds nothing could prepare the state of Victoria and the CFA for what was to unfold on Saturday the 7th of February 2009. Entire townships laid to waste, survives describing their ordeals as 'Armageddon on Earth'. One survivor told the prime minister that there was nothing left of Kinglake. ``It's just black the whole way through. It's apocalyptic up there,'' he said. Countless tales of survival have emerged from these fires, and the only shining light to come from this tragidy are the stories of hope and triumph as well as the broader community support which has already raised $10 Million dollars to aid the thousands of homeless surivors.

King Lake, gone, Marysville, gone. Entire communities were wiped out as many were trapped with little warning of the terror that moved with blazing speed.

"He was so badly burnt. He 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]',"

More than 400 fires, scorched country Victoria with as many as 31 still raging out of control on Tuesday. As emergency services begin to gain access to some of the more ravaged areas the death toll is anticipated to rise to 230 - which is at least three times the number of lives lost in both the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 and the Black Friday fires of 1939.

Victorian Premier John Brumby has announced that Former Police Commissioner Nixon will lead a Royal Comission to investigate all aspects of the disaster. Everything from warning procedures to evecaution plans will be analysed in hope that casualties are minimised in the event that any future disaster of this scale should occur.

Fire experts also claimed that inadequate fuel reduction in forests around Kinglake and other burnt-out regions of the state may have contributed to the disaster. Back burning strategies, and the leave early or stay and defend strategies wll also come under heavy scrutiny.

Mr Brumby, speaking from the charred remains of Marysville, said "We learned much from the bushfires of 1939, we learned much from the bushfires of 1983. These have been even worse with many more lives lost. We need to examine every possible issue, every single fact, every single policy … so that lessons can be learned."