The extra health costs associated with the premature loss of life and admissions to hospitals was estimated to be $2 billion, Professor Fay Johnston, a specialist in environmental health at the University of Tasmania, told the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.

The estimates, presented in evidence to the royal commission, are based on modeling of the impact of ultra-fine particles – those smaller than one 1000th of a millimeter – in bushfire smoke that lingered over around 80 percent of the Australian population over the summer.

The estimates did not include further costs to society such as loss of time at work or school, the commission heard. Nor did the health impacts include the significant impact of increased stress or the disruption to treatment plans or medication regimes or even of the loss of regular exercise.

The commission also heard that 34,679 insurance claims worth $2.26 billion had been lodged, including 9,004 for domestic buildings worth $1.22 billion. It was told that normally insurers reject about 4 percent of claims but so far only around .66 percent of bushfire related claims had been rejected.

The commission was told that the increasing frequency of natural disasters due to climate change was compounding the psychological impact on survivors, particularly on children, and that this had been even further exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The town of only around 1000 permanent residents lost around 100 homes, he said.

Many of the small school’s students lived outside the town and had only intermittent access to the internet and mobile phones due to the damage to infrastructure caused by fires, making remote learning difficult “for children who had already been through the trauma of the fires,” Mr. Cashmore told the commission in a recorded interview.

Further, the town has been hit with a series of blackouts this year, also due to fire damage.

“It is a double-whammy for us. It is two unbelievable events that have impacted greatly on our small community,” Mr. Cashmore said.

He said that while children in other parts of the country might have enjoyed the novelty of not having to attend school as the pandemic hit, students in Mallacoota wanted to be at school as part of their recovery and to tell stories about their memories of the fires.

See a visual guide to the fires here

Nick O’Malley is National Environment and Climate Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is also a senior writer and a former US correspondent.

Source: https://www.watoday.com.au/environment/climate-change/bushfires-left-estimated-445-dead-from-smoke-and-a-nation-traumatised-20200526-p54wha.html

The post Bushfires left estimated 445 dead from smoke and a nation traumatised first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.