chili Fight for the third day Forest fires It is the deadliest in its recent history, with several fires in the Valparaíso region, where at least 99 deaths have already been recorded and hundreds of people are missing in overpopulated areas ravaged by the flames.
In the city of Viña del Mar, about 120 km northwest of Santiago and one of the hardest-hit areas, survivors find themselves without shelter or neighbors amid streets filled with burned rubble.
“I left my house, closed the door and left. I didn’t know anymore because I went to the center of Viña del Mar,” Lilián Rojas, a 67-year-old pensioner, described to AFP, showing off her pink dress to point out: “That’s all I have now.”
On Sunday afternoon, the Legal Medical Service, the government body tasked by the president with providing official reports on deaths, reported in a statement that the death toll due to the emergency had risen to 99 people, “of which 32 have been identified.” .
In order to limit traffic in the affected areas “and to facilitate relief efforts for the victims and the removal of the deceased,” a new curfew from 6:00 p.m. local time to 10:00 a.m. local time was implemented on Monday in four municipalities of Valparaíso. announced Interior Minister Carolina Tohá.
The previous death toll given by President Gabriel Boric was 64, but the number will “increase significantly,” the Chilean president warned from Quilpué, a devastated community about 90 km from Santiago.
As several springs have gone out near the most populated hills where Friday’s fire caused devastating damage, residential hills are increasingly seen reduced to rubble and long lines of charred cars lined the streets.
It is not known whether these were parked vehicles or people stuck in traffic during an evacuation attempt and trying to escape under a rain of forest embers.
“It is the biggest tragedy we have experienced since the 2010 earthquake,” Boric said, referring to the magnitude 8.8 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on February 27 this year that killed more than 500 people .
A quick fire
Describing the aggressiveness and speed with which the fires spread through populated areas Friday afternoon, Rojas said the fire caught them by surprise within minutes.
They saw smoke coming from a distant light, he went into his room to watch TV “for a while” and when he came out “to look outside, people were already running,” he recalled.
“Time stood still, I don’t know whether it was 4 or 5 p.m. (…) No firefighters arrived until everything was used up. Not a single house was left,” says the pensioner, who lives on a pension of 100,000 euros and 206,000 pesos, about $228 a month.
Moisture against fire
Weather conditions have improved in recent hours, with a typical phenomenon on the Pacific coast that causes heavy cloudiness and high humidity, reducing the heat, “contributing to the cooling of the fire”, although “high temperatures will prevail until Tuesday”. he said. Minister Toha.
On the third day of the fire crisis, more than 30 fires are still active, while new preventative evacuations have been ordered for geographically similar and drought-stricken field areas such as Til Til, 60 km north of Santiago.
In the Valparaíso region, known for its tourist beaches and wine production, 17 fire departments, 1,300 soldiers and civilian volunteers are deployed to help fight the flames, but also the victims who have lost everything.
“Pray for Chile”
The Chilean fires prompted Pope Francis to point out this Chilean disaster.
The pope leaned out of the window of the Apostolic Palace and asked to pray “for the dead and injured in the devastating fires in Chile” after Sunday’s Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell offered his support to Chile, noting that this disaster was a reminder of “the devastating effects of drought and climate,” as he explained in a message.
Mega-wildfires have become increasingly common in Chile over the past decade, driven by extreme weather, high temperatures, a prolonged drought, construction of homes on unauthorized sites and, in large part, human negligence.
According to experts, a heat wave is currently overwhelming the South American Cone, where the natural climate phenomenon El Niño is being exacerbated by global warming caused by human activities.
SPRING: AFP