He President Gustavo Petro announced this Sunday morning the shipment of aid to Chile to put out dozens of forest fires that the South American country is currently fighting in its central and southern areas due to the heat wave.
“We will send a plane to Chile with material and people who are experts in putting out forest fires. The climate crisis burns Chile,” the president wrote on his Twitter account.
(Also read: Helicopter that was fighting forest fires in Chile fell).
We will send a plane to Chile with material and people who are experts in putting out forest fires. The climate crisis burns Chile. https://t.co/UFXGs953uc
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 5, 2023
What happens in Chile?
At least 23 people died in Chile in dozens of forest fires in the south-central zone of the country, hit by an intense heat wave, according to a report presented on Saturday night by the authorities.
“We want to regret the death of 23 people,” said the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, who explained that there are also 979 people injured. Monsalve explained that of 232 active fires on Saturday, 83 are fighting. Of that number, 76 started on Friday, 16 on Saturday. On Friday the official balance of deaths from the accidents amounted to 13, a figure that this Saturday rose first to 16, then to 22 and then to 23.
In view of the situation, which cannot be controlled, added to temperatures above 40ºC in the affected area, the government of President Gabriel Boric decided to declare a constitutional state of catastrophe in the region of La Araucanía, which is added to those of Ñuble and Biobío. The declaration of a catastrophe makes it possible to have additional resources to control the emergency, restrict the free movement of people and use the military forces to contain the disaster.
We are managing support from different countries to face an emergency
Boric, who suspended his summer vacation on Friday to visit the city of Concepción, 510 km south of Santiago, said on Twitter that he continued working “to face forest fires and support families.”
“I have just talked with President Alberto Fernández to coordinate and thank the support of the Argentine Republic in fighting fires. In addition to brigade members, we will receive machinery. We are seeking support from different countries to face an emergency,” he tweeted. “We won’t leave you alone!” he promised the affected Chileans.
In fact, Monsalve stressed that progress is being made in the delivery of support from Colombia, Spain and Argentina. Earlier, the Chilean Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, assured that “Chile in terms of fires has changed substantially, and it is changing every day.”
“We are becoming one of the most vulnerable territories to fires, mainly due to the evolution that climate change has had in our territory. This means that what seemed like an extreme situation three years ago, is being overcome year after year,” he said. . “It has burned in a week (in
Chile) what was burned in a full year,” he said.
AFP and TIME
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