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Australia revises fire death toll down
Melbourne (AFP) March 30, 2009 The death toll from ferocious wildfires that ripped through Australia's southeastern Victoria state in February has been revised down to 173 from 210, police said Monday. "We have been able to account for a number of people who were initially presumed missing as a result of the fires and this has impacted on the final figure," Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe told reporters. Entire towns and more than 2,000 homes were razed by the worst wildfires in the nation's history, as record high temperatures combined with tinder-dry countryside to create unstoppable firestorms on February 7. The reduction in the death toll followed painstaking examinations, police said, adding the higher figure had been provisional because of "the complicated nature of the post-mortem examinations". Search teams had recovered what they believed to be around 210 sets of remains, which were then examined at the coroner's office. "In some instances, some remains have been examined and found to belong to one person, when originally suspected to be two or more," he said. "We have also had to eliminate animal remains as part of the identification process and this, too, has impacted on the figure." The fires raged for weeks before being brought under control by thousands of firefighters, and survivors in some areas have only recently been allowed to return to their homes to begin rebuilding. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd vowed at a national day of mourning for the victims last month that the government would help the stricken area rise from the "ashes of despair". Share This Article With Planet Earth
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US lawmakers seek revamp of wildfire fighting
Washington (AFP) March 26, 2009US lawmakers on Thursday overwhelmingly approved legislation designed to ease the financial burden of fighting catastrophic wildfires like the blazes that ravaged California in 2008. |
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