What were the impacts of the Black Saturday bushfires?

Answer 1

There were many social, economic, environmental and political effects resulting from the horrific 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.

To begin with, 173 people lost their lives. This was a terribly traumatic time for those who lost friends and family. Significant numbers of people from small communities were affected. Whole towns were almost completely destroyed, or severely damaged, such as Marysville, Kinglake, Narbethong, Hazeldene, Kilmore, Yea, Churchill and Narre Warren. Over 1,800 homes were destroyed, and this resulted in more trauma of loss and displacement, not to mention the massive economic impacts of so much property loss. Two years after the disaster, only 41% of properties had been rebuilt or were in the process of rebuilding.

The total economic cost, including insurance payouts, has been estimated at A$4.4 billion. This figure does not include agricultural losses, which were estimated to include 11,800 head of livestock, 62,000 hectares of grazing land and 32,000 tonnes of hay and silage.

The bushfires burned over 400,000 hectares of land, and thousands of native animals were killed. There were 27 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Actlisted species in the fire area and another 19 Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act listed species in the fire area, so the effect on vulnerable species and biodiversity was severe. Many recovery programmes for these affected species were put in place: details can be found at the related weblink below.