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Australians marked the first anniversary of devastating wildfires that killed 173 people, grieving for those who lost their lives and praying for the survivors in a national day of mourning Sunday.
The "Black Saturday" bushfires, Australia's worst natural disaster, wiped out entire towns and destroyed more than 2,000 homes as they swept through the southeastern state of Victoria. Twenty-three of the dead were children.
"One year ago our lives changed forever," one woman, who lost her son and her home in the inferno, told a memorial service in Melbourne.
"On that day we lost our past, our present and our future.
"To all of those who have lost your homes, your businesses, your pets, your memories, we feel your pain. To all those who grieve for family, friends and neighbours, you share my pain," she said.
As flags across Australia flew at half-mast, a minute's silence was observed at a memorial service at Melbourne's St Paul's Cathedral attended by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Mourners hugged each other as they listened to music and readings from the Bible and candles were lit to honour the communities affected.
"February 7 will be forever etched in the nation's memory as a day of mourning but also one of tremendous spirit and inspiration," Rudd said ahead of the service.
"Our thoughts today are with the survivors of the bushfires as they remember the people they lost and work to rebuild their lives and towns. Their quiet courage has inspired a nation."
In the worst affected towns of Marysville, Kinglake and Strathewen smaller services and events were held to remember those lost.
In Marysville, bereaved father Rod Liesfield spoke of his anguish at surviving fires that took the lives of his wife and two sons, aged 12 and 14.
"Yes, I did ask many times, I did ask God why," he told a memorial service.
"I spent an hour or two or three, I haven't figured out how long yet, in that fire being hit by burning branches and everything, and I didn't lose a hair on my head. I walked through burning rooms. God has me here for a reason."
The minister of Kinglake West Uniting Church, Mark Prowse, said his community was still grieving.
"People are telling me today they are still hurting, they are still grieving, they are getting through it," he told reporters.
The Black Saturday fires rushed into small communities with little warning, killing residents as they sheltered in their homes, or fled in cars.
The disaster prompted scrutiny of Australia's bushfire safety measures, including a stay-and-defend policy that encouraged residents to remain at home during wildfires if they were properly prepared.
Christine Nixon, who heads the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority, said the fires left "an indelible scar."
"We've all seen and heard things that we would hope never to see again," she said.
Scientists reported on Sunday that a drought that has plagued southwestern Australia since the 1970s is linked to higher snowfall in East Antarctica, a phenomenon that may be rooted in global warming.
Researchers from the Australian Antarctic Division said the drought -- which has seen winter rainfall decline by 15-20 percent -- is extremely unusual when compared with the last 750 years.
Relatively cool, dry air flows northwards to southwest Australia, providing little rain, while warm, moist air flows to East Antarctica, where it gives abundant snow, said a paper published online by the journal Nature Geoscience.
The pattern is consistent with previous studies that suggest a man-made role in the drought, say the researchers.
Past research has pointed to greenhouse gases for changing the so-called Southern Annular Model, a key feature of atmospheric circulation in the southern hemisphere.
