Ustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged on Monday to pour 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) into helping the country to recover from the devastating bushfires through the newly-established National Bushfire Recovery Agency
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th January, 2020) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged on Monday to pour 2 billion Australian Dollars ($1.4 billion) into helping the country to recover from the devastating bushfires through the newly-established National Bushfire Recovery Agency.
The agency, which will be operating within two years, will focus on providing assistance to local authorities, farmers and Primary producers. Mental health support programs will also be implemented.
"We're putting an initial $2 billion [Australian dollars] into a new bushfire recovery fund to ensure the families, farmers and business owners hit by these unprecedented #bushfires get the support they need as they recover. While the immediate focus for our emergency services and the Australian Defence Force is keeping people safe and defending against the fires hitting so many areas, we also need to be ready to hit the ground in communities where the fire-front has passed to help them rebuild," Morrison wrote on Twitter.
The prime minister specified that this new commitment would come as an addition to the Australian government's emergency and disaster payments and support for volunteer firefighters.
The bushfires, which have been burning since September 2018 and have recently intensified, have reportedly claimed up to 20 lives, destroying over 1,000 houses and killing thousands of animals. Over seven million acres of forest have reportedly been burned.
