What happened to Australia? Where is the State when you need it?

Greg Annand squatted on a patch of rough road as bushfires rapidly approached, seemingly destined to become another statistic in the deadly outbreak of firestorms that this week killed more than 200 people and destroyed dozens of communities in the Australian state of Victoria.

But the weatherbeaten 72-year-old was miraculously spared as the raging fire turned into what he described as a “fireball in the sky” before lobbing over his head and continuing on its destructive course.

“We lost everything,” he said, possessions, a house in Kinglake West that was once a tea shop, and a Shetland pony.

Mr Annand, who has lived all his life in the harsh Aussie bush, is not sure he will ever return. “Nobody wants to see children burnt to death. But we have nowhere else to go. We are not city people.” More...

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