SYDNEY (AFP)Smoke from Australia's deadly recent bush fires is linked to an estimated 445 deaths and more than 4,000 hospitalisations over several months, a government inquiry heard Tuesday (May 26).
More than 30 people were killed as a direct cause of the blazes and thousands of homes were destroyed in late 2019 and early 2020, leaving affected communities devastated.
The Royal Commissiontasked with finding ways to improve how Australia deals with natural disastersheard from an environmental health specialist that the overall toll was estimated to be far higher when accounting for impacts from the bush fire smoke.
Associate Professor Fay Johnston from the University of Tasmania's Menzies Institute for Medical Research, said its modelling found there were 445 deaths attributable to the fires as well as 3,340 hospital admissions and 1,373 emergency room visits.
"Our estimates for the last season were at A$2 billion (S$1.87 billion) in health costs associated with premature loss of life and admissions to hospitals," she added.
Assoc Prof Johnston said that was "about 10 times higher" than in preceding years, despite not including costs associated with ambulance callouts, lost productivity or some diseases where impacts would be difficult to model, such as diabetes.
"There's fluctuation year to year, of course, however, that was a major departure from anything we had seen in the previous 20 years," she added.
Assoc Prof Johnston said 80 per cent of Australiansor about 20 million peoplewere affected by smoke from the vast blazes, which burned more than 10 million hectares of land.
Sydney was blanketed by grey toxic haze for weeks as mega-blazes ringed Australia's biggest city, while other major centres including the capital, Canberra, were also shrouded by hazardous smoke.
Bush fire-prone Australia has seen dozens of inquests into the causes of bush fires and steps that could be taken to mitigate them. However, several measures recommended by inquiries going back to the 1930s have still not been implemented.
The current inquiry is required to report its findings by August 31 ahead of the next bush fire season.