Tasmaniaexperienced its peak temperature since records began with levels hitting 41.8C onFriday 4th January
The heatwave, which began in Western Australia on December 27 and lasted eight days, was the fiercest in more than 80 years in that state and has spread east across the nation, making it the widest-ranging heatwave in more than a decade, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Due to the dry conditions, fires broke out across Tazmania. Thousands of people have been stranded and at least 100 homes destroyed as wildfires sweep through the area.
On the island, holidaymakers and Tasmanian locals have been forced to flee by boat as at least 100 properties have been destroyed, a large number in the small community of Dunalley, east of Hobart, where the police station and school were burned down.
Al Jazeera Video report:
In Dunalley, the picturesque fishing town where properties including the school, police station and bakery were destroyed, residents told how they were forced to dive into a canal to escape the flames on Friday.
Large parts of south-east Australiaare suffering from the worst fire conditions since the Black Saturday disaster almost four years ago, when 173 people in rural Victoria lost their lives.
UPDATE – 7th January 2013: South East Australia was starting to see wildfires spreading following a heatwave that had seen record breaking temperatures:
As the fires continue to rage, many volunteer firefighters have been called in to help with the containment effort. Among them are chefs, electricians and pilots. Backburning is now being used to contain the spread of the fires. Find out more about how this works here by watching this report from Al Jazeera English here:
Sources: BBC News, New Zealand Herald, 9 NEWS, Al Jazeera, 7 NEWS, BBC Weather, CNN, The Atlantic Wire
Millions of people in the Sahel region are facing severe food shortages because of drought.
The Sahel is a dry stretch of land south of the Sahara that stretches across 12 countries. Several of them have declared food emergencies, including Mauritania, Niger, Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso. View an interactive map for more information here
Al Jazeera reports in-depth on the current situation across the Sahel.
Watch the report here:
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There is also a wealth of information via the special report page on the Al Jazeera website here – well worth a look if you want to learn more about this under-reported crisis.
France 24 – Jardim Gramacho, on the edge of Rio de Janeiro, is the largest landfill in Latin America. With the UN Summit on Sustainable Development coming to town, it’s finally shutting down after 30 years.
That means the end of an era for thousands of “catadores” who make their living sorting through the trash – they’ll have to move on. But its closure heralds the dawn of a new age in Rio: separating garbage and recycling it.
What do you do with all those unwanted glass bottles? How about building new school classrooms? This ingenious project is taking place in the Philippines.