Australia’s Fire Deaths Now 130

Wildfire blazes, which have ripped through Victoria State in Australia, have killed at least 130 people, decimated massive spans of land and left thousands of people homeless.

In response to the rising death toll and massive destruction, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, President of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria and The Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Victoria and Caulfield Hebrew Congregation, have issued a call to prayer and action from the Jewish community of Victoria.

In support of victims of the devastating fires that have engulfed much of the state, an event will be held at 7:45 pm Thursday, February 12, 2009, at Caulfield Hebrew Congregation, 572 Inkerman Rd, Caulfield.

“Jewish Aid will be present to receive donations of food, money, and other necessities that will be passed on to the victims of these tragic fires,” said Kluwgant to COLlive.

The blazes have so far spared major urban areas but have swept across nearly 500,000 acres of bushland in Victoria state, leading some firefighters and police to describe the destruction “as something of a holocaust,” said state police inspector Phil Shepherd.

Two towns, Kinglake and Marysville – a town which hosted a popular Pesach resort for over 20 years – were completely destroyed.

Investigators in Australia believe some of the deadly wildfires ravaging dry southeastern bushland may have been set deliberately, a conclusion prompting Australia’s prime minister to call such acts “mass murder.”

>Donations can be made via the Jewish Aid website Jewishaid.org.