My own thoughts, resulting from my own experiences with fires and acquaintances cuaght in them, is that even if these people were missing in the first few days they’d be rapidly identified afterward. Grant even that they were not accounted for at the time that they fled, they’d be homeless now and surrounded by folk who would at some point ask if they’ve registered, or simply been in contact with mutual friends/family and discovered that their status had not been clarified. That the missing number has been largely static after initially creeping upward is telling.

The only hope I can see is that there may not be a coordinated accounting for people who have actually taken the time to register with different authorities. This seems a long bow to draw though… And parsimony, when accounting for the sheer number of homes destroyed, and the number of people who tended to remain in similar situations in Australia, also argues that the news will not be good.

Grim reality now is that almost if not absolutely all of them are dead.

No words are gonna suffice here really. Shared.