The Australian wildfires tragedy in pictures

The flight deck of a C-130J Hercules aircraft prepares to land at Merimbula airfield to deploy Fire and Rescue crews. - Copyright © Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Defence (SGT Christopher Dickson/ADF via AP)

By Natalia Liubchenkova

Published on 06/01/2020 - 15:02•Updated 09/01/2020 - 11:14

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Heartbreaking images of the devastation caused by wildfires in Australia

The startling images that have been streaming out of southern Australia for the last few weeks have been nothing short of apocalyptic.

Some of the worst wildfires in history have killed at least 24 people and destroyed about 2,000 homes.

Over the past weekend 3,000 reservists were called up by the country's prime minister, while strong winds and high temperatures were forecast to carry flames to populated areas including the suburbs of Sydney.

Since September 2019, more than 12 million acres of land in Australia have been scorched and an estimated 480 million animals have died in the fires, according to Chris Dickman from The University of Sydney.