CHILE ‘SUFFERS AND MOURNS’ AS WILDFIRES CLAIM 112 LIVES

Mon 05 February 2024:

At least 112 people have died as a result of Chile’s wildfires, and hundreds more are still missing, authorities said Sunday.

President Gabriel Boric on Sunday warned that casualties would rise “significantly” as forest fires continued to blaze in the central region of Valparaiso.

“It is Chile as a whole that suffers and mourns our dead,” Boric said in a televised speech. “We are facing a tragedy of very great magnitude.”

Authorities said 200 people were reported missing in and around the city of Viña del Mar, a popular beach resort where some of the most intense fires have raged.

There are 161 active fires across the country, according to Alvaro Hormazabal, director of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service. A botanical garden founded in 1931 in the city of Vina del Mar has been almost completely destroyed by the flames.

Authorities have urged thousands of people to evacuate their homes and have imposed curfews in the cities most heavily impacted by the fires to free up routes and allow emergency vehicles to reach affected areas. Shocking images of hundreds of cars burned by the fires, which have devastated entire neighborhoods, are circulating on social media.

After visiting the affected areas, President Gabriel Boric declared two days of national mourning for fire victims. The president said high winds were making it difficult for firefighters to control the wildfires, which have already burned through 8,000 hectares (19,768 acres) of forest and urban areas.

Almost 26,000 hectares (64,000 acres) of land had been burned across the Latin American country’s central and southern regions as of Sunday, according to the national disaster service SENAPRED.

Some 1,400 firefighters and 1,300 military personnel, as well as 31 firefighting helicopters and aeroplanes, have been deployed to fight the fires, according to authorities.

Wildfires are not uncommon in Chile during the summer months and about 27 people died in a spate of blazes in the south-central region of the country last year.

The fires came as record-high temperatures hit the South American country due to an El Niño weather pattern that has caused high temperatures and triggered forest fires in several Latin American countries including Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina.

Scientists have warned that natural disasters such as wildfires are likely to become more common due to warming temperatures caused by climate change.

During his Sunday address, Pope Francis, who hails from neighbouring Argentina, called for prayers for the “dead and wounded in the devastating fires in Chile”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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