Australia fire burns area 20 times the size of Tokyo

Prime Minister Morrison scrambles to contain political and economic damage

In this Sunday, Jan. 5 photo provided by Australian Department of Defense, the flight deck of a C-130J Hercules aircraft has a warm glow from wildfires, as they prepare to land at Merimbula airfield to deploy Fire and Rescue crews. © AP

FUMI MATSUMOTO, Nikkei staff writer

January 7, 2020 07:11 JST

SYDNEY -- The Australian government is under heavy criticism over its sluggish response to raging fires which have reportedly burned a total of 52,000 sq. km of land -- an area twenty times larger than Tokyo and greater than what was lost to fire in Brazil's Amazon rainforest last year.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced plans on Saturday to deploy 3,000 military reservists to help with recovery efforts. He also said he will postpone a trip to Japan and India, which had been scheduled for mid-January.