প্রকাশ: 04/02/2024
Wildfires blazing across Chile have killed at least 46 people, officials said Saturday, leaving bodies in the street and homes gutted as flames continued to spread. President Gabriel Boric has decreed a state of emergency in the central and southern parts of the country "due to catastrophe," as dry conditions and temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) exacerbated the crisis.
"There are 40
people who were killed in the fire, and another six (who died) as a result of
burns," Boric said, after he surveyed the affected region via helicopter
Saturday afternoon.
"We know that
these (numbers) will increase," he added.
After the flight he
promised, "We will be there as a government to help them get back up (on
their feet)."
Dense gray smoke
blanketed the Vina del Mar area of the Valparaiso tourist region, along central
Chile's coastline, forcing residents to flee their homes.
Authorities imposed a
curfew beginning at 9 pm (0000 GMT) Saturday, to allow emergency supplies --
especially fuel -- into the affected areas. New evacuation orders were issued,
though it remained unclear exactly how many people have been told to leave.
Earlier Saturday,
Interior Minister Carolina Toha said there had been 92 fires as of noon, with
43,000 hectares (106,000 acres) burned across the country. Firefighters were
still battling 29 of the blazes by the afternoon, while 40 had been brought
under control.
In the hillsides around
the coastal city of Vina del Mar, entire blocks of houses were burned out
overnight, AFP reporters saw Saturday morning, as thousands of people who had
previously evacuated returned to find their homes destroyed.
Some of the dead were
seen lying in the road, covered by sheets.
The area, about 1.5
hours northwest of the capital Santiago, is a popular tourist destination
during the summer months. The coastal region is also important for the
country's wine, agricultural and logging industries.
In the towns of
Estrella and Navidad, southwest of the capital, the fires burned nearly 30
homes, and forced evacuations near the surfing resort of Pichilemu.
"I've never seen
anything like it," 63-year-old Yvonne Guzman told AFP. When the flames
started to close in on her home in Quilpue, she fled with her elderly mother,
only to be trapped in traffic for hours.
"It's very
distressing, because we've evacuated the house but we can't move forward. There
are all these people trying to get out and who can't move," she said.
Vina del Mar Mayor
Macarena Ripamonti said, "We're facing an unprecedented catastrophe, a
situation of this magnitude has never happened in the Valparaiso region."
Several thousand
hectares have burned in Valparaiso alone, according to CONAF, the Chilean
national forest authority.
Images from trapped
motorists have gone viral online, showing mountains in flames at the end of the
famous "Route 68," a road traveled by thousands of tourists to reach
the Pacific coast.
In addition to
Valparaiso, firefighters and emergency services personnel were battling blazes
in the center and south of Chile, including O'Higgins, Maule, Biobio, La
Araucania and Los Lagos.
"This was an
inferno," Rodrigo Pulgar, who lost his home in the inland town of El
Olivar, told AFP. "I tried to help my neighbor... my house was starting to
burn behind us. It was raining ash."
On Friday, authorities
closed the road linking Valparaiso to the capital Santiago, as a huge mushroom
cloud of smoke "reduced visibility."
The fires are being
driven by a summer heatwave and drought affecting the southern part of South
America caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, as scientists warn that a
warming planet has increased the risk of natural disasters such as intense heat
and fires.
As Chile and Colombia
battle rising temperatures, the heatwave is also threatening to sweep over
Paraguay and Brazil.
In Argentina, brigades from several provinces have been fighting a fire that has consumed more than 3,000 hectares in Los Alerces National Park, famed for its beauty and biodiversity, since January 25.
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