Port Lincoln Bush Fire Tragedy

on 26th Dec, Tsunamis struck in Indian Ocean ... but on 11th January 2005 also known as black tuesday by the local,another natural disaster struck.

This time is much closer to where i live ...

Bush fire which very common in Australia especially in summer.

But this time, it had gone way beyond the human control taking 9 lifes and 4 were children.

Some time, i asked myself, is our good old God deaf or is it our retribution.

In another side of the world , landslide, flood and avalache in America ..Famine in Africa... War in Sudan ... in Ginza region etc ... it just keep on coming .





Four children among fire deaths
By staff writers and wires
January 12, 2005

NINE people have been confirmed dead in South Australia's worst bushfires in 22 years.

Out of control ... the fire takes hold in South Australia.

Four children were among the nine people confirmed killed in the bushfire on the lower Eyre Peninsula.

The children, aged between two and 13, and their relatives perished in cars as they tried to escape the deadly flames.

More than 100 others were injured.

Another three people remained unaccounted for tonight.

The charred body of popular schoolteacher Helen Castle was discovered today in a shell museum adjoining a house at North Shields, where residents yesterday jumped into the ocean to escape the massive blaze, which burnt through more than 48,000ha of the lower peninsula.

Eight of the dead were from the peninsula and the other a tourist from Adelaide, police said.

Formal identification of the bodies was expected to take days because of the horrific nature of their burns.

"The deceased are severely burnt and it's very difficult to tell male from female," SA Police Assistant Commissioner Gary Burns said.

"Whilst we believe we know the victims, before we actually do forensic analysis we won't be able to confirm names."

Eight people were killed in vehicles as they frantically sought to flee the blaze, which broke out in temperatures of around 40 degrees and was fanned by winds approaching 100km/h.

Jodie Russell-Kay and her children Zoe, 11, and Graham, 13, perished after their car hit a tree at Poonindie, the crash most likely caused by poor visibility from the choking smoke.

Adding to the tragedy was the discovery that their home was spared in a town where many others were razed.

Frank Wesner, a godfather to one of the children, said Ms Russell-Kay sent him an SMS message on his phone shortly before she died.

"I only received a text message from Jodie Russell that she didn't know what to do," Mr Wesner told the Nine Network.

"She was very worried about the fire coming at the speed it was, and she just didn't know what she was going to do.

"Jodie was a very caring young mother."

Jack and Star Borlase, aged two and four, and their grandmother Judy Griffith died in their car at Wanilla, while Judy's husband Wayne took another car and survived.

"Wayne and Judy didn't have any idea of what was on the other side until it really came up over the hill and just engulfed them," the children's other grandmother, Diane Borlase, told Nine.

The Nine Network also reported that friends Neil Richardson and Trent Murnane perished in their car at Wanilla, north-west of Port Lincoln.

Prime Minister John Howard has expressed shock and sadness at the deaths, saying they were "a terrible reminder of the ever-present threat of bushfires and their devastating effect on this country".

Officers have appealed for calm from relatives and friends of people still missing in what the State Government today described as South Australia's worst fires since the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983.

The peninsula fire has been declared a major emergency, with aid and recovery teams to remain in the area for the next 48 hours.

South Australian Police Commissioner Mal Hyde upgraded the fire's status after yesterday declaring it a major incident.

The new declaration requires emergency aid and recovery to be provided for 48 hours. A major incident declaration provides aid for 12 hours.

Mr Hyde said a recovery committee had been established following the blaze.

"Due to the ongoing need to manage a more protracted recovery process, I have declared the situation a major emergency under the Emergency Management Act," he said.

"This provides a greater length of time to manage the event over the next 48 hours."

In an exhaustive exercise today, police and State Emergency Service personnel visited fire-damaged properties, locating a dozen people who were earlier missing and feared dead.

Hospitals on the peninsula treated 90 people for minor fire-related injuries and a further 14 were hospitalised with burns.

At least three of the most severely burnt victims were sent to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where their condition was described as serious.

In addition to the loss of human life – the greatest number in a bushfire in the state since 28 people were killed in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires – huge amounts of property and stock were also lost.

The number of people homeless as a result of the blaze remained unknown, with damage estimates of property and stock also uncertain, Asst Comm Burns said.

"This will have a severe impact in a lot of ways in regard to this district, ranging from the emotional trauma right through to the financial aspect,"he.

North Shields resident Russell Puckridge said he had finally paid off his home in the new year but his family was now left with only the clothes they were wearing.

"When we came out of the yard here, there were red cinders everywhere and we couldn't see 10 feet in front of us," Mr Puckridge told ABC radio.

"We had about three minutes until we seen it, from the time we seen it, (then) the house was gone.

"I was sitting in the car underneath the carport there and next minute all I seen were 20 foot waves of fire coming up over the hill.

"My missus couldn't even grab her handbag. (We've got) nothing – no money cards, nothing."

The fire moved with incredible speed, up to 70km/h, injuring many people, destroying homes, vehicles and stock, with one farmer reporting at least 500 sheep killed.

There are fears the fires could spread more destruction this week.

While cooler conditions have made the battle easier for South Australian firefighters today, a blaze is burning out of control in western Victoria and there are still danger areas in New South Wales.

CFS chief executive Euan Ferguson said: "This is a classic situation where there is no force known to man that can control a fire burning under those conditions."

Last night at the tiny farming settlement of Wanilla, 40km north of Port Lincoln, there was nothing left.

Fire fight

As strong winds fanned across the state yesterday and temperatures soared above 40C, 450 firefighters rushed to the Adelaide Hills after reports of a major fire at Mount Osmond. Adelaide-bound and outbound traffic on the South Eastern Freeway was diverted to give firefighters a chance to get to the seat of the blaze.

The blaze ripped through the caravan park at North Shields, destroying cabins and caravans. Residents of Louth Bay, were forced to evacuate and seek refuge on a beach.

Other towns and areas threatened by the blaze included Edillilie, Wanilla, Wangary, Koppio and White Flat. Refuge centres were set up for fire victims who needed accommodation, including the Port Lincoln cinema, Port Lincoln High School and Cougars Clubrooms at Cummins.

Power was out in several areas last night, with about 1000 businesses and homes hit in the Cummins area.

"The fire and emergency services of South Australia are excellent and are responding magnificently," Mr Howard said. "I have indicated that if any Commonwealth support is required to augment the South Australian response, it will be readily available."

Extracted from news.com.au

Quantum and General Relativity

Been reading the physic book "Quantum Theory" and "General Relativity"
Einstein, the inventor of general relativity was always disagree with bizarre world in quantum...

Most of the present mathematic and scientific calculation is based on quantum mechanic ...
Its chaotic environment has confused me a lot ... proving very useful in predictation like in weather forecasting .....

In another hand , Einstein's general relativity looked at the world as a big picture ..... our solar system is resting on an imaginary space fabric... with sun in the center and planets always in rotation by the centrifugrual force induced by the sun.... very useful in especially for GPS to work...

An effort to unified the two theories in one ..... String theory .....

Phew ... lucky for me for nt requiring me to study in depth of physic ....

For me .... theory is just a theory .... me still prefer practical .....