No Filipino hurt in Australia's wildfire - DFA

MANILA, Philippines - As the fire rages across residential homes in Australia, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it has yet to receive reports of any Filipino injured or killed in the ongoing wildfire.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Bayani Mangibin told GMANews.TV that the Philippine Embassy in Canberra is still checking with authorities on the identities of the 76 civilians that were killed in the deadly brush fire in the Australian capital.

"So far there are no Filipino casualty," Mangibin said in a Monday interview.

Likewise, the DFA spokesperson said the honorary consul in Queensland has also reported no Filipino casualty in the wildfire that has claimed some 128 lives as of posting time.

Grasslands have been burning for weeks in the southeastern state of Victoria but turned deadly Saturday when searing temperatures and wind blasts created a firestorm that swept across a swath of the region, the Associated Press reported.

A long-running drought in the south — the worst in a century — had left forests extra dry and Saturday's fire conditions were said to be the worst ever in Australia.

From the air, the landscape was blackened as far as the eye could see. Entire forests were reduced to leafless, charred trunks, farmland to ashes. The Victoria Country Fire Service said some 850 square miles were burned out.

Australia's previous deadliest fires were in 1983, when blazes killed 75 people and destroyed more than 3,000 homes in Victoria and South Australia.

Australian authorities say this year's wildfire is the worst they had in years. - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV

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