Firefighters fought against time to quell one of the most fierce forest fires that engulfed Chile and claimed 112 lives, on Sunday. The raging fire flames razed entire neighborhoods in the country, forcing President Gabriel Boric to announce an emergency. He added that Chile is “facing a tragedy of very great magnitude”. Hundreds of people are reportedly missing, igniting fears of a rise in the death toll.
Dead bodies were found near the hillsides and houses devastated by the wildfires as Firefighters and rescue authorities pounded through the enraging fire. It is pertinent to note that the flames gathered momentum on Friday, however, by Sunday the wildfires reached the outer edges devastating Vina del Mar, where a renowned botanical garden situated since 1931, and Valparaiso, two cities popular among tourists.
Authorities in Chile have introduced a 9 pm curfew in hardest-hit regions and the military has joined firefighters to suppress the spread of fire. Meanwhile, helicopters dumped water to douse the flames. Chilean President Boric also announced two days of national mourning starting Monday, advising citizens to be prepared for the worse.
Drone footage shot by the news agency Reuters showed neighborhoods blazing with fires as residents frantically traced their way through the burnt houses, collapsed roofs, and charred vehicles. At the same time, thick haze blanketed other urban zones resulting in zero visibility.
Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monslave on Sunday stated that 165 fires raged across Chile and an estimated 14,000 homes were reduced to ashes in the Vina del Mar and Quilpué areas alone. The ones who returned to their ravaged homes found them “unrecognizable”, with many of them losing almost all of their life possessions.
Though wildfires are quite common during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer, the latest raging blazes stand out, marking the country’s worst national disaster since the 2010 earthquake, killing 500 people. Just last year, heatwaves claimed 27 people and affected more than 400,000 hectares of land. Due to the high-intensity damage, Chile’s President sought to channel funds to the hardest-hit areas, many of which are popular with tourists.
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