This artwork conveys the current bushfire disaster unfolding in Australia; also dedicated to the firefighters who put themselves on the front line to battle these blazes, and to those that have sadly lost to the raging inferno...

Here's a few statistics to give you an idea of how catastrophic this really is: (As of 7:00PM AEST, 5th January 2020)

   - 63,000sq km (24,000sq mi) of land has been burnt or is currently burning, that is more than double the size of Belgium!

   - 25 People have been killed including 5 firefighters plus numerous others missing

   - Canberra's air quality has maxxed out at 7,700 on the air quality index killing one woman; an air quality index reading of 200 is considered hazardous

   - Canberra's air quality has also been confirmed as being the worst in the world of any city for the past few days.

   - 1,500+ homes have been destroyed.

   - Around 100,000 people have been evacuated from their home towns; mostly in New South Wales and Victoria.

   - Half a billion animals have died including more than 8,000 koalas which already have a conservation status of vulnerable.

   - NASA has stated that between August 1st 2019 and January 2nd 2020 more than 306 million tonnes of carbon dioxide had been emitted into the atmosphere; by comparison Australia's yearly output in 2018 was 535 million tonnes.

   - Skies over the entirety on New Zealand have also turned orange/grey due to smoke plumes drifting across the Pacific.

(You can find out more here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_Australian_bushfire_season)

This is a dark time for Australia and the fire season is far from over, hopefully these fires calm down soon.

If you want to donate to the cause then head to any of these organisations websites or links:

WIRES (Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service) - https://www.wires.org.au/donate/emergency-fund

Rural Fire Service (NSW) - https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade

Rural Fire Service (QLD) - https://www.rfbaq.org/donate-to-rfbaq

Country Fire Authority (VIC) - https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/about/supporting-cfa

Country Fire Service (SA) - https://cfsfoundation.org.au/donate

RFS NSW Facebook Fundraiser (Nearly $25 million dollars has been raised in less than 3 days by over half a million people) - https://www.facebook.com/donate/1010958179269977/2576928812584198/