The wildfires that began days ago are threatening the outskirts of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, two coastal towns popular with tourists. Footage from Vina del Mar showed entire neighborhoods scorched, with people rummaging through the rubble of burned homes. Burnt-out cars littered the streets.
A woman searches through the rubble of her home destroyed by a wildfire in Vina del Mar, Chile on February 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Chilean authorities have imposed a 9pm curfew in the worst-affected areas and sent in the army to help firefighters contain the spread of the fires, while helicopters have dropped water to try to extinguish the flames from the air.
Chilean health authorities said 99 people had died in the fires and 32 bodies had been identified. Earlier in the day, Mr Boric said Chile should prepare for more bad news as he announced two days of national mourning starting Monday. “We are facing a tragedy of enormous proportions,” he said.
Many residential areas were burned down in the forest fire in Chile. Photo: Reuters
Hundreds of people have also been reported missing, authorities said. More than 1,000 homes have been damaged. Officials said Saturday that more than 90 fires were still raging across Chile.
While wildfires are not uncommon during the Southern Hemisphere summer, the death toll of these fires is high, making them Chile's worst national disaster since a 2010 earthquake that killed about 500 people.
Last year, after a record heatwave, some 27 people died and more than 400,000 hectares of land were affected by forest fires in Chile. “We are all fighting this emergency together. The priority is to save lives,” Boric said.
Huy Hoang (according to Reuters)
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