By Xinhua,
CANBERRA : The levels of preparedness to deal with bushfires within at-risk communities in Australia are generally low, a report posted on the website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Tuesday quoted Psychology Professor Douglas Paton of the University of Tasmania as saying.
Professor Paton, a researcher with the Bushfire Cooperative Research Center (CRC), said this lack of preparedness for bushfires is a significant public policy issue.
It is a problem that has been heightened by the increase in migration of people to semi-rural areas beyond the edge of cities.
Bushfire Emergency Australians remain unprepared to deal with bushfires despite a long history of loss and devastation from natural disasters, some of the country’s leading bushfire researchers said.
The comments came as the Australian bushfires that have swept Victoria have killed so far at least 173 people and many more homes were destroyed.
In the wake of the nation’s worst bushfire in recorded history, other experts are also warning that worse may be yet to come, with climate change and drought increasing the ferocity and duration of bushfires, the report said.