The east coast was the hardest hit, although there were more than 190 fires spread across the continent. The combination of elements such as temperatures of around 40 degrees, winds of up to 60 kilometers per hour and dry vegetation made it difficult for firefighters to work. The flames destroyed 2,500 homes, left 29 dead and consumed more than 8 million hectares. It is estimated that more than 1 billion animals have died and left several species at risk.

The forest fires on the outskirts of Sydney came together in a single large front threatening the city, already shrouded in smoke and ash. These made the sky orange, making visibility difficult for more than a week, putting public health at risk and forcing residents to wear masks in order to breathe. Other Australian cities have also been affected by clouds of smoke.

Satellite images reveal a patch of smoke that stretches more than 2,000 kilometers away, from the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. According to NASA, the smoke caused by these fires went around the world and returned to the skies of Australia. The smoke even changed the color of New Zealand's glaciers that looked like sand dunes from the sky, in addition to affecting air quality on all continents.

This was the second strong earthquake to hit the country in just 2 months and it was still felt in Italy, Greece and other neighboring countries. Prior to the strongest quake, there were a series of earthquakes of less magnitude and more than 1300 aftershocks were recorded. More than 14,000 buildings were affected and the old, structurally more fragile buildings, contributed to the severity of the damage and the high number of casualties. The Albanian president said that “the situation is very dramatic and every effort is being made to get people out of the wreckage”. The army was mobilized to assist in the rescue of victims, a task made difficult due to the aftershocks in the following hours, increasing panic among the population. The photos show the dimension of the tragedy. On the same day, neighboring Bosnia also suffered an earthquake with magnitude 5.4, which shook the southeast of the capital, Sarajevo.