The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, was in Viña del Mar this Sunday morning (4) to analyze the damage that a large forest fire caused in the region. Officially, the number of deaths has already reached 64 and searches continue in several cities in the state.
“This is the greatest tragedy we have experienced as a country since the earthquake of February 27, 2010. I say this so that we are able to measure the pain and magnitude of what we are experiencing today”, declared the politician, this Sunday afternoon, at a school which was transformed into a hostel in the city of Quilpué. The 2010 earthquake cited by Boric killed more than 500 Chileans.
“The priority now, I reiterate, is to save lives. There are still active fires. We will treat the injured and control these fires, which are being fought at the moment. Our duty is to protect citizens and their pets”, added the president, flanked by local authorities.
The fire consumed large residential areas of Valparaíso, 100 kilometers east of Santiago. Since Friday, the region has been under a state of emergency. According to the latest report from the National Forestry Corporation, there are at least seven fires currently active in Valparaíso. The largest is the Lago Peñuelas/Las Tablas Reserve, next to the region's main highway, which has already burned around 9,300 hectares.
This fire, together with that of Lo Moscoso, with 1,350 hectares burned, is particularly worrying due to its virulence and proximity to densely populated areas.
The director of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), Álvaro Hormazábal, said this Sunday morning that weather conditions could improve slightly in the next few hours, which would make fighting the fires easier.
“From today or tomorrow we will have coastal depression. We may already have some cloud cover on the coast, which increases humidity and allows the fire intensity to decrease a little”, analyzed Hormazábal.
To facilitate rescue work and unblock evacuation routes, the Chilean government ordered a mandatory nighttime curfew, which could be extended until tonight in sectors that have not yet been evacuated in the cities of Quilpué, Villa Alemana, Limache and Viña del Mar.
The region's governor, Rodrigo Mundaca, announced after a meeting between regional authorities and institutions that there is “unanimity of criteria” in maintaining the measure, although the calendar has not yet been defined. Mundaca reiterated that the possibility of the fires being intentional is still being investigated, as many of them broke out at the same time.
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