2019-2020: AustraliaFanned by strong winds, heatwave temperatures and a dry vegetation, bush fires ravaged vast areas of Australia's east coast from September 2019. In January 2020, the federal capital Canberra, threatened by flames, was placed on a state of alert. Some 11.5 million hectares -- an area bigger than Portugal -- went up in smoke. Nineteen people were killed and 1.7 million hectares of land reduced to ashes. Fourteen of the country's 21 provinces were hit by the fires which destroyed 3.7 million hectares of forest and seven million hectares of pastureland.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 12, 2020 10:41 UTC