2/4/24

By Aditi Jha

In Chile, forest fires have killed at least 99 people and the death count will likely go up, according to President Gabriel Boric. Hundreds of people are missing as a result of the fires, which started on Friday around the town Viña del Mar. Evacuations throughout the central parts of Chile have occurred and red alerts were issued for certain areas in danger. Boric said that the disaster was the worst since the 2010 earthquake in Chile that killed over 400 people and destroyed the homes of 1.5 million people. Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said in a news conference yesterday that there are 92 active forest fires that have already burned over 43 thousand hectares and destroyed thousands of homes. In February of 2023, over 22 people in Chile died from fires that destroyed over 400 thousand hectares. Tohá said that these fires are quickly growing and going closer to urban areas so there's an increasing risk of infrastructure damage. "I know that it is a very difficult time to lose the house that was built with so many years of sacrifice. Losing a family member, a loved one, is a heartbreak impossible to measure," Boric said in a virtual address, "but rest assured that our government is deployed with all the human, technical, and budgetary resources." The Education Ministry has 20 shelters in Valparaíso, O'Higgins, and Los Lagos. Chile has brought 19 helicopters and over 450 firefighters to stop the fire. All sporting, recreational, cultural and other events in Valparaíso were also stopped. “Every time there is a massive event, that means a demand for security teams and authorities who are distracted from what is central today,” Tohá explained. “That is why we need there to be no distraction.” The towns of Quilpué, Viña del Mar, Linache, and Villa Alemana now have curfews to make it easier for operational teams to get through and for people to evacuate. The New York Times reports flawed evacuation orders in Chile and says it "may have contributed to the casualty count", comparing it to the poorly executed evacuation in Hawaii during their 2023 wildfire. Rather than mandating evacuation, the national disaster response service of Chile simply gave people instructions on how to do so, if they wanted to. Additionally, people received these instructions while the fire was already at their village. Other South American countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Argentina have also been experiencing dozens of fires recently.  

That's the news for today! Stay safe!