black summer wildfires case study Flashcards
where did the fire occur?
South Australia (New South Wales and Victoria)
when did the fire occur?
September 2019 to March 2020
How many hectacreas of land was burnt?
20 million
how many animals were estimated to be killed?
1 billion
why was 2019 a record year?
2019 was Australias hottest and driest year on record
What type of tree did Australias forest contain?
what effect did this have?
Eucalyptus trees
made the forest more flammable
why was Australia more vulnerable?
due to the loss of aboriginal fire mitigation techniques
what were the main 2 ignitors of the fire?
- purposefully lit fires
- lightning strikes
What occured causing more lightning strikes?
large bushfires causing storms
how many people were directly killed?
33
how many were killed from smoke inhalation?
almost 450
how many people approximately were displaced?
approx 80,000
how many buildings were damaged or destroyed?
6,000
name 2 other secondary social effect other than smoke inhalation
- mental health issues
- health issues such as respiratory illness
how many animals were impacted?
up to 3 billion
how many tons of CO2 were released?
400 million
what resulted from CO2 release?
air degradation
what did immense heat do to the soil?
stopped vegatation growth due to soil erosion until the ash fertilised it
why did the quality of drinking water decrease?
due to the contamination of rivers and lakes from debris
how many trees were planted in response to the fire?
long term response
1 million
how much did the government allocate for recovery?
long term
2 billion AUD
how much did the fire estimate to cost?
long term
100 billion AUD
how much did the government invest in mitigation and preparation strategies?
long term
50 million AUD
how many animals did rescue organisations save?
short term
100,000
