The toll has risen further in Chile as firefighters try to contain violent fires in the center of the country. At least 51 people lost their lives and a thousand homes were destroyed.
The Chilean authorities remain mobilized to try to contain around a hundred ongoing fires which are ravaging a densely populated area in the center of the country.
At this stage, the human toll shows at least 51 dead. 1,100 houses were destroyed.
In a nationally televised address on Saturday, President Gabriel Boric warned that the toll could worsen with four major fires in the Valparaiso region, where firefighters had difficulty reaching the most threatened neighborhoods.
Gabriel Boric urged Chileans to cooperate with rescuers.
“If you are told to evacuate, do not hesitate to do so,” he said. “The fires are growing rapidly and the weather conditions make them difficult to control. There are high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity.”
Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said on Saturday that 92 forest fires had been recorded in the center and south of the country, where temperatures were unusually high this week.
The deadliest fires were in the Valparaíso region, where authorities urged thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
The minister said two fires near the towns of Quilpué and Villa Alemana had burned at least 8,000 hectares since Friday. One of the fires threatened the resort town of Viña del Mar, some neighborhoods of which have already been hit hard.
In Villa Independencia, a hillside neighborhood on the eastern edge of the city, several blocks of homes and businesses were destroyed. Burnt-out cars with broken windows lined the ash-covered streets.
Three shelters were set up in the Valparaíso region, and 19 helicopters and more than 450 firefighters were dispatched to the scene to help fight the fires, Tohá said.
The fires were burning in hard-to-reach mountains, as well as in precariously built neighborhoods on the edge of Viña del Mar.
The authorities reported power outages following the fire. In the Valparaíso region, four hospitals and three retirement homes for the elderly were evacuated. The fire also destroyed two bus stations, said the Minister of the Interior.
This year, the El Niño climatic phenomenon caused droughts and warmer than usual temperatures in western South America, thus increasing the risk of forest fires. In January, more than 17,000 hectares of forests were destroyed in Colombia by fires that followed several weeks of dry weather.
