"The uncomfortable truth is the government's response just doesn't pass the pub test," said Kevin Rudd, a former prime minister. "It's been evasive, tepid, tone-deaf and, above all, too late."

CANBERRA, Jan. 13 -- Home to around 260, Wingello in southeast Australia had been a tranquil village before a bushfire on Jan. 4 turned it mostly into ruins.

Inside a front yard in the village, a Xinhua reporter saw burnt chairs and a table, joining the charred trees, collapsed houses and warped cars that tell the stories of homes lost overnight.

Many of the residents have sought refuge under the roof of relatives or friends. An old couple unwilling to give their names said they are in dire need of food and a place to live.

"It was pretty fast," Mark Wilson, captain of the Wingello Rural Fire Brigade, told Xinhua. "Then it rained down ashes, which set everything on fire."

Photo taken on Nov. 11, 2019 shows the bushfire in Taree in New South Wales, Australia. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

EVERYONE IS AFFECTED

Bushfires have been burning in Australia for nearly three months now, so far killing 28 people and destroying some 2,000 homes. Over 10.7 million hectares of land -- about the same size as Iceland -- have been scorched across the continent.

Not only humans are suffering. Data by the World Wide Fund for Nature shows 1.25 billion animals have perished in the fires, including those from many native species such as the koala, kangaroo, wallaby and cockatoo.

Living near the fire-ravaged tourist destination Batemans Bay in the southern state of New South Wales (NSW), Peter James, who runs a farm with 190 cattle in rural Braidwood, said his family has left town for "a rental place" elsewhere.

"We're waiting for it to rain so we can go back home," said the young farmer.