Thousands of people have been driven from their homes - AFP

Two Australian states have declared a state of emergency as bushfires bring a "catastrophic" threat to heavily populated areas of the nation's east.

bbc.com - 11 November 2019

At least three people are dead and thousands have been displaced by three days of dangerous weather conditions in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland.

But officials say the worst danger will come on Tuesday for areas around Sydney, the nation's largest city.

More than 120 bushfires are burning across the two states.

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ALSO SEE RELATED INFORMATION WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

CLICK HERE - Wildfires Rage In Australian State: 'We've Simply Never Had This Number Of Fires'

Photograph - Getty Images - nfpa.org - by Jesse Roman - July 1, 2019

Around the world, an army of volunteers equipped with little more than laptops monitors social media activity during all manner of emergencies. That work is contributing to a fundamental change in how safety agencies interact with the public during large-scale disasters.

. . . a virtual operations support team, or VOST community remains primarily a loosely affiliated network of do-gooder volunteers . . .

. . . Because the work is conducted online, VOST members can be located anywhere in the world . . .

. . . The general term for this work is social monitoring, a concept that has grown steadily since about 2010. Many forward-thinking disaster managers now see this digital sleuthing as critical to their on-the-ground efforts, regardless of the type of disaster they are facing.

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                          An expanding list of news and information resources on Tropical Cyclone Idai . . . 

CLICK HERE - OCHA - Humanitarian Response - Mozambique

CLICK HERE - reliefweb - Tropical Cyclone Kenneth - April 2019

CLICK HERE - UNOCHA - Virtual OSOCC - Situation Overview - TROPICAL CYCLONE IDAI IN MOZAMBIQUE

CLICK HERE - reliefweb - Tropical Cyclone Idai - March 2019

CLICK HERE - GDACS - Summary - Overall Red alert Tropical Cyclone for KENNETH-19 in Mozambique, Comoros

Seen from a drone Praia Nova Village, one of the most affected neighbourhoods in Beira, razed by the passing cyclone, in the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday March 17, 2019. Families are returning to the vulnerable shanty town following cyclone high winds and rain. More than 1,000 people are feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the southern African country. (Josh Estey/CARE via AP)

CLICK HERE - reliefweb - Tropical Cyclone Idai - March 2019

apnews.com - by Andrew Meldrum - March 18, 2019

More than 1,000 people were feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the country, submerging entire villages and leaving bodies floating in the floodwaters, the nation’s president said . . .

. . . Cyclone Idai could prove to be the deadliest storm in generations to hit the impoverished southeast African country of 30 million people.