Evacuees huddle in flood-hit Brisbane
FEATURE |
BRISBANE — A fluorescent yellow bracelet is the sign of loss for hundreds of Brisbane families, as they cram evacuation centers and pray for their flood-hit homes and possessions.
More than 500 people are sleeping on rows of mattresses at the city’s sprawling RNA Showground exhibition center, all wearing the little bracelets handed out on registration.
Iraqi student Issam, and his wife and child who recently joined him from Baghdad, were among those forced to flee at a moment’s notice as the floods struck, clutching just two plastic bags full of belongings.
“It was a terrible night. We live 40 meters (yards) from the river, on the first floor,” he told AFP, in the cavernous, neon-lit conference hall transformed into a teeming refugee center..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110114com6.html
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