Minute's silence for Australian wildfire victims

AUSTRALIANS marked the one-year anniversary of the country's worst-ever wildfires yesterday in city cathedrals and small towns still bearing burn scars.

On 7 February last year, hundreds of fires raged across southeastern Australia as temperatures soared and powerful winds whipped blazes into firestorms. In a single day, 173 people were killed and more than 2,000 homes razed.

The scale of the disaster, dubbed Black Saturday, shocked Australia, where hundreds of wildfires scorch vast areas of forest and farmland every summer but rarely cause deaths.

A national day of mourning was observed, with flags on government buildings lowered to half-mast and one minute's silence was marked at noon.