Victorian bushfires

[Chris]

Most of you will have heard by now of the devastating bushfires which have been raging in the Australian state of Victoria since late last week. As of this writing, they are known to have killed more than 180 people, with the death toll expected to rise and possibly top 300. Last I heard about 500 people had been treated for burns, and 100 of them had been hospitalised. Over 330,000 hectares have been burnt out and nearly 1000 homes destroyed. In some cases entire towns have been levelled. These are officially the worst bushfires in Australia’s history, which is no mean feat considering that Australia is claimed to be the most fire-prone country in the world.

[...]

At times like these, it is up to the rest of us Aussies to help, knowing that the people of Victoria would do the same if our positions were reversed. That’s why I’m pledging 50% of Inventive Dingo’s proceeds to help bushfire victims, dating back from the day the fires took hold (7th February) and lasting until the end of this month.

If you've already bought Mayhem Intergalactic and would like to make a contribution, I'd encourage you to head over to the Australian Red Cross website and make a secure online donation.

[Prez]

I have donate to red cross....it is easy ....link here:

http://www.redcross.org.au/default.asp

Minimum 5 AU$

Prez

[Kumlekar]

whats the conversion for AU$ to US$ ?

[Chris]

Currently, 1 Australian dollar = 0.6546 U.S. dollars, according to Google.

You can just type 1 aud in usd into the Google search box and it'll tell you the current exchange rate. Nifty, huh? Of course you can also do 5 aud in usd or 19.99 usd in aud or whatever you like. It works for other currencies too.

[Minus]

It's all over the radio in the US too. Arson is disgusting.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Chris]

I have decided to extend the bushfire appeal mentioned in my previous post (50% of proceeds from sales of Mayhem Intergalactic to be donated to Australian bushfire victims) by two additional weeks, due to the ongoing nature of the tragedy.

Fires are still burning north and east of Melbourne, and the official death toll has recently risen to 209.

[Kumlekar]

I'll see if I can get one of my friends up north to buy the game while this is still going on. 

[Chris]

Brace yourselves.

On a marginally more positive note: http://www.inventivedingo.com/news/2009/03/02/mayhem-intergalactic-bushfire-appeal-mentioned-on-good-game/

[Chris]

Whew. Just spent all afternoon on the accounting for the past financial year. All done now, but it took a while to sort through.

That means I was finally able to calculate the total amount raised by my little bushfire appeal - which was more complicated than it should have been, thanks to payment schedules and exchange rates and fees and the like.

The result: Together we raised over $1,000!  $1,055.02, to be exact. You guys rock!

I'll spread this news more widely than this thread in a couple of days, once I've actually donated the money (which will take a couple of days because inter-bank transfers are slow). So all you keen forum-watchers get a sneak preview.

[Chris]

Done, done, done. I am a happy chappie.

[Kumlekar]

I hate fires.  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wildfires

I'm about three blocks away from one of the evacuation areas.

[Chris]

Ahh, that sucks. Heard you guys were having a rough time over there.   You have the sympathies of everyone here, for what it's worth. Best of luck with it all.