As California burns, a look at the worst wildfires of 2019-20
As California burns, a look at the worst wildfires of 2019-20
BusinessToday.In
- Sep 14, 2020,
- Updated Sep 14, 2020 10:19 AM IST
- 1/7
The years 2019 and 2020 have witnessed the worst wildfires in history. Scientists attribute this to increased global warming and climate change that make conditions likely for fires. Global wildfires are devastating not only for humans and wildlife but also for the economy. Here are some of the worst wildfires the world has seen since 2019.
- 2/7
California wildfires
California has been burning for three weeks in a row now. The blazes have burnt millions of acres and left thousands homeless, killing 25 people till now. As per the National Interagency Fire Center, the fires have burnt a total of 4.5 m acres of land, an area which is larger than Connecticut and slightly smaller than Wales, in recent weeks. US President Donald Trump, in a response to recent wildfires blamed poor fire-control measures.
- 3/7
Oregon wildfires
Firefighters of Oregon are battling 16 large blazes and 40,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders. The deadly wildfire has filled the West Coast with unhealthy smoke, making it complicated to control the blaze and find dozens of missing people.
- 4/7
Australian bushfires
In one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history, nearly three billion innocent animals were killed and thousands displaced in Australia's devastating bushfires. Raging blazes swept across every Australian state, scorching the bush, and claiming at least human 33 lives. Reptiles, birds, frogs, mammals died due to the explosive wildfire and many were dead due to loss of habitat.The government pledged A$ 50m (27m; $35m) for wildlife and habitat recovery, with environmentalists asking for better and stronger conservation laws for Australia. Evidence showed that unprecedented severity of the fires was a result of climate change.
- 5/7
Amazon Rainforest wildfire2019's most unforgettable fire would be the Amazon rainforest wildfire which raged for months in Brazil, killing nearly half a billion animals. The rainforest fires went on from Jan 2019 to October 2019 during which some 76,000 fires burned polluting the atmosphere with toxic gases and killing animals.
- 6/7
Indonesia wildfireThe total damage and economic loss from the Indonesia forest fires amounted to at least $5.2 billion, equal to 0.5% of gross domestic product of the country, as per a World Bank report."The forest and land fires, as well as the resulting haze, led to significant negative economic impacts, estimated at $157 million in direct damage to assets and $5.0 billion in losses from affected economic activities," the World Bank wrote in the report. Over 900,000 people reported respiratory illnesses, 12 national airports halted operations and hundreds of schools in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore had to temporarily close due to the fires.
- 7/7
Siberia wildfireAs per Greenpeace Russia, wildfires in Russia have so far burned down an area larger than the size of Greece. The environmental organisation criticised the government for their negligence in taking action in the region amid record heat waves.With the help of satellite data, Greenpeace Russia reported an estimated 19 million hectares, about 47 million acres, of forests and fields, have been burned across Siberia since January. About 10 million hectares of these territories suffered forest fires. Although the fires have now become an annual occurrence in that area, record-breaking heat in the last few months had worsened the situation.