Firefighters in Australia say that they have brought the bush fires in the capital Canberra under control.
The authorities in Australia have said the destruction caused by the latest bush fires in the south east of the country clearly rank among the worst natural disasters in the nation's history.
Four people have died in the fires that have engulfed the outskirts of the capital, Canberra, and parts of New South Wales and Victoria - all areas dried to tinderbox conditions by the region's worst drought in decades.
The dead include two men aged 73 and 61 years, and two women, one aged 83 years and another in her thirties.
More than 300 people have treated in hospital for fire-related injuries.
400 homes have been destroyed and thousands of people have been forced to leave their houses.
Businesses, shops, a school, medical research facilities, health department headquarters and an observatory were among the properties lost in one of Australia's worst bushfire disasters.
The country's Prime Minister, John Howard, who cut short his holidays to visit the scene, expressed shock at the scale of the devastation, describing it as the worst he had ever seen.
