As of the 4th, at least 112 people have died from the fire that has struck Chile in Central and South America since the 2nd. With hundreds of people missing, it is certain that the number of casualties will increase. Authorities are working hard to extinguish the fire and search for missing people, but they are having difficulty responding as fires break out simultaneously across the country. President Gabriel Borić declared a national emergency.
According to government announcements and local media reports, the forest fire that was first reported near Lake Penuela in the central state of Valparaiso on the 2nd quickly spread throughout the country thanks to dry weather and strong winds. Strong winds on the 3rd, with maximum wind speeds reaching 60 km/h, also increased fire damage.
As a result, more than 6,000 houses and 26,000 hectares (260 km2) of land were burned in south-central Chile alone.
Most cities in the central and southern regions, including Vina del Mar, a representative coastal resort city, Quilpue, Villa Alemana, and Limarche, were devastated. In El Salto, a city with many industrial complexes, a paint factory was engulfed in flames. An explosion occurred due to flammable substances inside the factory.
Viña del Mar’s botanical garden, established in 1931, was also destroyed by more than 90% of the fire. A resident of Viña del Mar, who lost his home and had to watch his neighbors lose their lives in this fire, said, “It’s closer to a ‘nuclear bomb’ than a fire.” “There is nothing left,” he said, expressing his devastated feelings to the New York Times (NYT).
In a message to the public on the 4th, President Boric mentioned the 2010 magnitude 8.8 earthquake that killed 525 people and mourned the victims, calling it “without a doubt the greatest tragedy since the 2010 disaster.”
Although the exact cause of the fire has not been revealed, many experts suggest that climate change, such as ‘El Niño’ (a phenomenon in which water temperatures near the equator abnormally rise), may be the cause. The UN also predicted that the number of large-scale forest fires will increase by up to 14% by 2030 and up to 30% by 2050 from 2022.
In southern Chile, more than 400 fires broke out early last year, killing 24 people. At the end of last month, more than 17,000 hectares (170 ㎢) of forest was destroyed in nearby Colombia due to a heat wave that caused daytime temperatures to rise to 40 degrees.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.