Eden (Australia) (AFP)

Personalities like tenniswoman Ashleigh Barty, after Nicole Kidman and Pink, mobilized on Sunday by launching fundraisers or in the form of donations, for the firefighters and the victims of the fires which ravage Australia and have made a total of 24 dead.

In the aftermath of a particularly violent day of fires, Sunday provided respite with cooler temperatures and rain in parts of the states of Victoria and New South Wales (southeast).

But the seaside towns of the East Coast were plunged into darkness, the ashes rained on villages while the big cities suffocated in stifling smoke.

The capital Canberra was placed at the head of the most polluted cities in the world on Sunday, ahead of Delhi and Kabul, due to the fumes emanating from nearby blaze, by Air Visual, an independent site measuring air quality.

Personalities are getting involved and have raised millions of dollars to support firefighters and the communities affected by these devastating fires.

A pot launched by the actress Celeste Barber on Facebook to help firefighters collected in 48 hours 25 million Australian dollars (15.5 million euros) of donations from around the world.

World number one tennis player Roland Garros Australian Ashleigh Barty has announced that she will donate her Brisbane tournament winnings to the Red Cross to help the victims of the fire. His earnings can potentially reach 250,000 dollars (around 225,000 euros).

- Kitty -

American singer Pink pledged on Saturday to donate 500,000 US dollars, an amount equal to that promised by Australian actress Nicole Kidman. "The support, thoughts and prayers of our family go out to everyone affected by the fires all over Australia," wrote the actress for "Australia" and "Eyes Wide Shut" on Instagram.

Hundreds of properties were destroyed on Saturday and a man died trying to save a friend's house in one of the worst days since the fires started in September.

Nearly 200 fires continue to burn on Sunday, often out of control, but few have triggered emergency warnings as temperatures drop.

Millions of Australians have been affected in the southeast, the most populous part of the island continent, by this disaster that the authorities have failed to contain for several months. It has already destroyed an area equivalent to twice Belgium and caused 24 deaths, including three fire soldiers.

Fires are common in Australia in the spring and summer. But they were particularly precocious and virulent this season, in particular due to even more favorable conditions for fires due to global warming.

"We are in unknown territory," said Gladys Berejiklian, the Prime Minister of New South Wales, whose capital is Sydney. "We cannot say that we have already experienced this. It is not the case."

A state of emergency was declared in the southeast of the island and orders were given on Friday to more than 100,000 people to evacuate to three states.

- Fires and floods -

Many places remain Sunday under the threat of out of control fires, especially around the town of Eden in New South Wales, near the state of Victoria.

"We could see it within 50 meters and there was debris falling from the sky, including white ash," said AFP John Steele, 73, evacuated Saturday evening from his property north of Eden. "The sky is still red."

Fires and floods: Cooma, more inland, had to face two evils when a huge water tower containing 4.5 million liters collapsed, sweeping cars and covering houses with mud.

- Queen's message -

Faced with the gravity of the crisis, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Saturday the largest military mobilization ever carried out, namely the call of 3,000 army reservists to lend a hand to exhausted volunteer firefighters.

Navy ships and combat helicopters were already mobilized on Friday for the largest evacuation launched since World War II in Australia, in Mallacoota (State of Victoria), where 4,000 people were trapped on the seafront by fires surrounding the city.

Queen Elizabeth II said she was "deeply saddened" by the fires and thanked the "life-threatening" emergency services for helping the people.

Thousands of people have been displaced, such as Noreen Ralston-Birchaw, 75, who lost her Mogo home on New Years Eve, some 100 km southeast of Canberra.

© 2020 AFP