SANTIAGO OF CHILE. Chile is shocked by a devastating fire emergency. As the hours passed, the fires in the Valparaíso region (bordering the Metropolitan Region of Santiago) turned into a tragedy, with almost 100 deaths, 1,300 homes destroyed or damaged by the flames and 46,000 hectares of vegetation and forests gone up in smoke. President Gabriel Boric, who had already declared a state of catastrophe on Friday, admitted after visiting the most affected areas (Viña del Mar, Quilpué, Villa Alemana y Limache) that the most recent toll of 99 deaths “is provisional”, because «it only concerns people included in an official recognition list of the forensic medical service». The mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti, indicated this morning that the municipal services have received complaints from “around 372 people about whom nothing is known”.
The firefighters work on the hills of the municipality of Quilpe, in the Valparaiso region
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“The number of victims is destined to grow”, explained Boric, who lashed out against people who “cynically work to cause a massacre like this”, assuring that “we will find them and make the full weight of the law weigh on them ». Then he announced that he had decreed two days of national mourning, asking the population to join the relatives of the fatal victims.
Aerial view of burnt houses and vehicles after a forest fire in Quilpue, Viña del Mar
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In line with Boric's statements, the Minister of the Interior Carolina Tohá also said that a malicious component to the flames is certain, so much so that the Valparaíso Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation in order to confirm the existing indications of intentionality for at least four fires. “We are faced with the greatest tragedy we have suffered in Chile since the earthquake and tsunami of February 27, 2010,” Boric underlined, before leaving the city of Quilpué. Drama within the drama, families of people who died in the city of Viña del Mar complained to the media showing about ten corpses that were not recovered by rescuers, and which must be permanently monitored to protect them from attacks by stray dogs.
Aerial view of the consequences of a fire in the hills of Viña del Mar
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Furthermore, many citizens have reported cases of thefts carried out by “jackals” in abandoned houses, for which the governor of Valparaíso, Rodrigo Mundaca, has assured that a night curfew will be introduced in the most vulnerable areas. For these and other situations, the work of the Chilean firefighters and special teams is enormous, because it concerns the devastation caused by the 43 fires that developed in different areas, which continue to expand due to the high temperatures of the southern summer, and due to the propitious weather conditions.
The sun sets as smoke fills the sky from the forest fire encroaching Vina del Mar, Chile
The entire Chilean government is mobilized to help deal with the emergency, and Defense Minister Maya Fernández has ordered, in coordination with the Interior, the deployment of 1,311 soldiers from the three branches of the Armed Forces. While the head of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren, announced that Chile “is turning to the international community for help”, specifying that “we are coordinating to convey our specific needs”.
The drama that the population is experiencing was also remembered yesterday by Pope Francis, who at the Angelus invited the faithful to “also pray for the dead and injured in the devastating fires that hit central Chile”.
A woman with her child walks past burnt vehicles after a forest fire in Quilpue, Viña del Mar
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