Fires in Chile do not give a truce: more than 100 dead and missing confirmed

For the third day, Chile is fighting the deadliest forest fires in its recent history, with several points burning in the Valparaíso region, where At least 112 deaths and more than a hundred missing people are recorded in overpopulated areas devastated by flames.

(Also read: Emergency in Chile: the devastating images of the fires in Valparaíso).

In the city of Viña del Mar, about 120 km northwest of Santiago and one of the most affected areas, lhe survivors discover themselves without shelter or neighbors among streets full of burned rubble in hills heavily populated by middle class families, and others in more precarious and poor settlements.

“I left my house, closed the door and left. I didn't know any more because I went to the center of Viña del Mar“Lilián Rojas, a 67-year-old retiree, described to AFP, showing her pink dress to point out: “This is now the only thing I have.”

On Sunday night, the Ministry of the Interior raised the death toll to 112 and noted that the Medical Service identified 32 bodies.said the undersecretary of that portfolio, Manuel Monsalve.

The highest authorities of the Valparaíso region, in the center of the country, have requested that the work of the investigation of deaths be accelerated given the high number of people reported to the police as missing.

“190 people are still missing in Viña del Mar“, said the mayor of that city, Macarena Ripamonti, in a press conference. In order to limit traffic in affected areas “and facilitate relief work for the victims and the removal of the deceased,” a new emergency call was implemented. It is in four communes of Valparaíso, from 6:00 p.m. local (9:00 p.m. GMT) until 10:00 a.m. local on Monday (1:00 p.m. GMT).

With several fires extinct near the most populated hills where the fire wreaked havoc on Friday, Residential hills reduced to ashes and long rows of charred cars in the streets begin to be seen in Viña del Mar.. It is unknown if they are parked vehicles or those of people who were trying to evacuate and were trapped in traffic, trying to escape under a shower of forest embers.

“It is the biggest tragedy we have had since the 2010 earthquake“said Boric, in reference to the 8.8 magnitude earthquake, followed by a tsunami, that occurred on February 27 of that year and left more than 500 dead.

A fast fire

To describe the aggressiveness and speed with which the fires spread on Friday afternoon over populated areas, Rojas said that the fire surprised them in a matter of minutes. They saw smoke from a distant light, she went “for a while” to his room to watch television and when he came out “to look outside, people were already running,” he recalled.

“Time stopped, I don't know if it was at 4 or 5 in the afternoon (…). No firefighters arrived, until everything was consumed. Not a single house was left,” the retiree summed up the horror, who He lives with a pension of 206,000 pesos, about 228 dollars a month.

Moisture against fire

The weather conditions in the last few hours improved with a typical phenomenon on the Pacific coast, which produces a lot of cloudiness, high humidity and decreases the heat“which helps cool the fire” although “there will be high temperatures until Tuesday,” said Minister Tohá.

On the third day of the fire crisis, More than 30 fires are still active while new preventive evacuations were ordered for field areas very similar in geography and affected by drought, such as Til Til, 60 km north of Santiago. In the Valparaíso region, known for its tourist beaches and wine production, 17 fire brigades, 1,300 soldiers and civilian volunteers are deployed to help fight the flames, but also the victims who lost everything.

“Pray for Chile”

Leaning out of the window of the apostolic palace, the Pope Francis asked to pray “for the dead and injured in the devastating fires in Chile”, after the Sunday Angelus in St. Peter's Square. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the European Union (EU), Josep Borrell, offered support to Chile and noted that this catastrophe recalled “the ravages of drought and climate,” he indicated in a message.

In the last decade, episodes of mega forest fires have multiplied in Chile related to extreme weather, to high temperatures, a prolonged drought, construction of homes in unlicensed sites and a large percentage caused by human negligence. A heat wave is overwhelming the Southern American Cone these days, where the natural climate phenomenon of El Niño is exacerbated by global warming caused by human activity, according to specialists.

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