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AFP
Sydney
An inquiry into Australia’s recent bushfires that scorched an area larger than most nations and displaced thousands opened Monday, with a stark warning that such disasters would become longer and more frequent.
The government was widely criticised for its response to the devastating blazes -- including Prime Minister Scott Morrison who holidayed in Hawaii at the heigh of the crisis -- and announced the national inquiry in February.
The Royal Commission -- tasked with finding ways to improve how Australia deals with natural disasters -- heard from a leading government scientist that last summer was not a “one-off event”.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s head of climate monitoring, Karl Braganza, said a prolonged drought was one of the key factors that led to the dangerous fires.
However, Braganza emphasised that the recent bushfires were part of an underlying climate trend, which has emerged this century and “really challenged what we thought fire weather looked like preceding this period”.
Sydney
An inquiry into Australia’s recent bushfires that scorched an area larger than most nations and displaced thousands opened Monday, with a stark warning that such disasters would become longer and more frequent.
The government was widely criticised for its response to the devastating blazes -- including Prime Minister Scott Morrison who holidayed in Hawaii at the heigh of the crisis -- and announced the national inquiry in February.
The Royal Commission -- tasked with finding ways to improve how Australia deals with natural disasters -- heard from a leading government scientist that last summer was not a “one-off event”.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s head of climate monitoring, Karl Braganza, said a prolonged drought was one of the key factors that led to the dangerous fires.
However, Braganza emphasised that the recent bushfires were part of an underlying climate trend, which has emerged this century and “really challenged what we thought fire weather looked like preceding this period”.
