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For more than a month, gigantic fires have ravaged the northeast of the country. More than 800,000 hectares have already gone up in smoke. The fire caused serious environmental damage and heavy economic losses according to the authorities.
At nightfall, the disaster seems even more impressive. In front of the flames, the men seem very helpless and their means are derisory. As for the animals, they try to flee from many fires. The province of Corrientes has been devastated for more than a month. Without respite, 20,000 hectares of forests and cultivated land go up in smoke every day. “What we are experiencing is atypical, historic. The oldest also say it, we are upset. There isn’t much else to say. For the province of Corrientes, it’s terrible“, laments a resident.
At the origin of these fires, drought. This season it has barely rained in this agricultural region. Very high temperatures and strong winds do not facilitate rescue operations. Criticized for its management of the crisis, the Argentine government has sent hundreds of firefighters as reinforcements. Despite everything, skepticism wins. “The surface to be fought is immense on several fronts. What we are trying to do is first of all to contain the fires that are progressing towards residential areas“, explains Mauricio Alba, head of the brigade of the province of Cordoba. For the defenders of the environment, deforestation and the misuse of land are responsible for this ecological disaster.