Entire residential areas devastated, charred cars, nearly 26,000 hectares reduced to ashes... Some 1,400 firefighters and 1,300 soldiers and volunteers are preparing to fight for the fourth consecutive day against dozens of fires in the center and southern Chile, according to the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred).
“We must say, with the information received from the forensic service that there are 112 people killed, 32 bodies identified
,” declared Sunday evening Manuel Monsalve, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior, during a press conference, specifying that the firefighters were still fighting against around forty active outbreaks.
The previous toll given by the Forensic Medicine Service (SML) was 99 dead.
Hundreds of people missing
“This figure will increase, we know that it will increase significantly
,” warned the President of the Republic Gabriel Boric earlier on Sunday during a trip to Quilpué, located on the outskirts of Viña del Mar in the region of Valparaiso where all the deaths were recorded.
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 Gabriel Boric, referring to the 8.8 magnitude earthquake which was followed by a tsunami on February 27, 2010, and which left more than 500 dead.
“There’s not a single house left here.”
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 out 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.
In order to limit traffic in the affected areas
“and to facilitate relief operations for victims and recovery of the dead”
, a new curfew was established in four municipalities of Valparaiso, from 6:00 p.m. local time (9:00 p.m. GMT) to 10:00 a.m. local time Monday (1 p.m. GMT).
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 caring for 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
,” she said.
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.
A heatwave linked to the El
Niño phenomenon
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
climate”
.
“France expresses its full solidarity with the Chilean government and people, in the face of the fires ravaging the country”
and
“stands ready to provide aid”
, also reacted the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Séjourné on X.
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 in the grip of flames, Bogota calls for international help, the heat wave threatens Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the coming days.