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The new agency will be dedicated to assisting in the reconstruction of houses and infrastructure damaged by fires burning in the country since September
The Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, announced on Monday the creation of an agency dedicated to the recovery of the areas affected by the fires that will have 2,000 million Australian dollars (1,388 million US dollars or 1,243 million euros) in the next two years.
The new body, which will be led by former Federal Police Chief Andrew Colvin, will be dedicated to assisting in the reconstruction of houses and infrastructure damaged by fires burning in the country since September.
“It will be done, at all costs”, Morrison told the press after meeting with his cabinet’s national security committee.
The Australian ruler said that the budget line is independent of other aid already approved and clarified that it is an initial commitment that can be increased if necessary and the damage increases.
“We focus on the human cost and cost of rebuilding people’s lives (…) to ensure that we do everything we can, as quickly as we can, to assist in recovery efforts”, he added.
The measure follows the deployment of 3,000 reservists and a departure of 20 million Australian dollars (13.8 million US dollars or 12.4 million euros) to rent four seaplanes and other air means that the prime minister announced on Saturday, at the end of one of the worst days in this wave of fires.
Morrison made the announcement after weeks of criticism for his lack of response to the fires, which intensified last month after going on vacation to Hawaii without warning in the middle of the crisis, and that exposed him to the rejection of the residents of the affected areas, who refused to shake his hand and insulted him when he visited them.
The fires, considered among the worst of the century in Australia, have caused 23 deaths and destroyed more than 1,500 homes, mostly in fires that have burned since the end of the year, and have burned almost six million hectares of land, which is equivalent to twice the surface of Belgium.