(Viña del Mar) “The greatest tragedy” that Chile has experienced in more than a decade: the fires ravaging the tourist coastal region of Valparaiso have left at least 99 dead, and the toll could still get worse.
Entire residential areas devastated, charred cars, nearly 26,000 hectares reduced to ashes… For the third consecutive day, some 1,400 firefighters and 1,300 soldiers and volunteers continued to fight against dozens of fires in the center and the south of the country, according to the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred).
The Forensic Medicine Service (SML) responsible for compiling the data linked to this crisis indicated in a press release that it had “admitted a total of 99 people” who had died. “32 of them have been identified. In addition, we carried out 25 autopsies,” according to the same source.
The previous toll given by President Gabriel Boric was 64 dead.
PHOTO CRISTOBAL OLIVARES, THE NEW YORK TIMES
View of a neighborhood in Viña del Mar, February 4
“This figure will increase, we know it will increase significantly,” Mr. Boric said during a trip to Quilpué, located on the outskirts of Viña del Mar in the Valparaiso region.
The mayor of the resort town of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti, and the governor of the Valparaíso region, Rodrigo Mundaca, said several hundred people were missing.
In Quilpué, an AFP team was able to see entire neighborhoods and cars charred. There, thousands of residents were stranded for several hours on Friday as they tried to flee by car.
“This is the biggest tragedy we have experienced since the 2010 earthquake,” said Mr. Boric, referring to the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that was followed by a tsunami on February 27, 2010. and which left more than 500 dead.
Firefighters were still fighting 34 fires on Sunday and managed to control 43, according to Senapred.
PHOTO RODRIGO ARANGUA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A woman and her baby walk past vehicles burned during a forest fire in Viña del Mar on February 4.
Lilian Rojas, a 67-year-old retiree, lived near the Viña del Mar botanical garden, one of the worst-hit areas.
“There is not a single house left here,” she said, amid the rubble and ashes.
She says the fire surprised them within minutes. “I went outside to look and people were already running. I left my house, I closed the door and I left,” describes the retiree, showing her pink dress: “it’s the only thing I have left.”
Rodrigo Pulgar, a driver, lost his home in El Olivar in the hills of Valparaiso.
“It was hell, explosions. I tried to help my neighbor turn off his car, my house was starting to burn from behind. It was a rain of ashes,” he says.
More favorable weather conditions
The weather conditions of the last few hours seem more favorable, said Interior Minister Carolina Toha, describing a phenomenon typical of the Pacific coast that produces lots of clouds, high humidity and therefore lower temperatures.
“Current conditions are more conducive to treating victims and controlling fires,” she added.
The Las Tablas fire, the largest in the Valparaiso region, is still active and “covers a perimeter of 80 km”, indicated Mme Toha.
Throughout the region, popular for its beaches and its wine production, 17 fire brigades, 1,300 soldiers and civilian volunteers were deployed to fight the flames and help destitute residents.
“The ravages of drought”
From Rome, after the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis called on Sunday to pray “for the dead and injured in the devastating fires in Chile”.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell announced on […] remind us of the ravages of drought and climate.”
Since Wednesday, the temperature has been close to 40 degrees in central Chile and the capital Santiago.
This heatwave resulting from the El Niño climatic phenomenon is currently affecting the southern cone of Latin America, in the middle of summer, causing forest fires worsened by global warming. After Chile and Colombia, the heat wave threatens Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the coming days.