The factors that would be behind the high lethality of fires in Chile

The recent wave of forest fires in Chile has resulted in an unprecedented tragedy, with 112 fatalities confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior and Senapred, and around 400 people reported missing by the mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti. President Gabriel Boric has described this event as the most devastating catastrophe since the earthquake of February 27.

(You may be interested: Fires in Chile do not give a truce: more than 100 dead and missing are confirmed).

The former deputy director of Onemi, Víctor Orellana, in dialogue with El Mercurio, criticized the excessive confidence in the Emergency Alert System (SAE), whose effectiveness was compromised by the destruction of critical infrastructure, such as antennas, during the fires. This situation led to delays in evacuation and, consequently, an increase in fatalities.

Uwe Rohwedder and Horacio Gilabert, experts in risk management and architecture, emphasized the lack of a culture of prevention and adequate response to fires in the Chilean population. Unlike preparing for earthquakes and tsunamis, lack of knowledge and practice in fire situations has had deadly consequences.

(Of interest: Chile: two people arrested in Viña del Mar for alleged responsibility in fires).

Additional factors that have intensified this emergency include the start of the fire under extreme weather conditions and urbanization in high-risk areas such as slopes and hills. Gilabert highlighted the particular vulnerability of the Valparaíso area and the coastal mountain range, where population density and topographic and climatic conditions greatly complicate fire management.

This series of events highlights the urgent need to strengthen emergency protocols in Chile, as well as the urgency of educating the population in prevention measures and effective response to forest fires.

More news

*This content was rewritten with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on the information published by Emol, and was reviewed by the journalist and an editor.