I love Australia. It’s been that way ever since January 2, 1982, when I arrived in Melbourne and stayed for three years. I developed lifelong friendships Down Under and had the good fortune to return in 2009 for the Brisbane Writers Festival.
Aussies, in my opinion, are the country’s greatest natural resource. Which brings me to the Queensland floods . . .
As you might guess, I’ve been following the story with a mix of shock and concern. Yesterday, I received this blast email from a friend. He does a great job explaining the magnitude of the crisis from a personal perspective:
Hi All
This is a general email to many friends around the world who have inquired about the Queensland floods as reported by the BBC and various other news outlets.
Just to put it in perspective – this is not a localised event:
– for my USA friends, Queensland is nearly 3 times the size of Texas – 2 thirds of it is now a lake.
– for my European friends, think of a lake the size of France and Germany combined.
I lived in 6 country towns from north, south, east and west of the state before going to boarding school in Brisbane – 3 of them are under water, 2 have raging floods around them and only 1 is high and dry. Ironically it was that place, Mt Isa in the north west (1,700 miles from Brisbane) that recorded the first casualty of this flood.
Surprisingly, only 3 deaths so far – all people in cars trying to get across flooded bridges.
Economically, Queensland supplies 50% of the world’s coking coal (used in steel production to fire blast furnaces) – BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Extrata mines are all under water and they have all just announced they intend to claim “Force Majeure” on contract deliveries. Most of this goes to China and Japan. Its probably too late already for bit of commodity speculation.
Brisbane and the south east corner of the state are relatively unaffected, just heavy rain. Which is what they have been getting for the last 6 months.
Personally, the only concern is my cousin Peter, who has a cattle ranch near Roma, 300 miles west of Brisbane. He is expecting the flood waters to travel south and hit him some time later this week – plenty of time to move cattle to high ground.
Apart from that its life as usual in Melbourne – if anything interesting happens I’ll let you know.
Regards
Rob
If you’re wondering how to help, here’s the link to Australia’s Red Cross. They’re spearheading the relief effort.
The New York Times describes my novels as “money porn,” “a red-hot franchise,” and “glittery thrillers about fiscal malfeasance.” Through fiction I explore the dark side of money and the motivations of those who have it, want more, and will steamroll anybody who gets in their way.