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State Of Emergency Declared In Chile Due To Wildfires, Dozens Of Casualties Reported

Chile has declared a state of emergency after wildfires devastated parts of the South American country.

Multiple outlets have reported at least 64 deaths from the fires.

However, authorities believe the death toll will rise.

Hundreds of residents are reportedly still missing.

“We have decided to advance COGRID to 1230 am. The situation of forest fires, especially in the 5th region, is very difficult due to the temperatures and winds, but know that we are with the Government, Firefighters, CONAF, Carabineros and civil society deployed to the maximum of capabilities to face the emergency. I have also decided to declare a state of emergency due to a catastrophe to have all the necessary resources,” Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font said (translated).

According to CNN, smoke ravaged coastal cities and people living in the country’s central regions had to leave their homes.

Footage of the fires circulated on social media:

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CNN reports:

Rodrigo Mundaca, the governor of the Valparaiso region, said Sunday that authorities were upholding a curfew in the towns of Viña del Mar, Quilpué, Villa Alemana and Limache to allow authorities to focus on battling the blazes.

The mayor of Quilpué, Valeria Melipillán, told CNN Chile that the fire was “probably the largest ever” in the region and that nearly 1,400 houses in the municipality had been damaged. Melipillán added that while evacuation efforts had been efficient, some people in the affected areas did not want to leave their homes.

Pope Francis in a post on ‘X’ called upon people to “pray for the deceased and injured victims of the devastating fires that have affected central Chile.”

In a televised statement on Saturday, Boric said that the defense ministry would deploy more military units to affected areas, with all necessary resources made available.

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About 92 active fires are burning in various parts of the country and have so far affected roughly 43,000 hectares, Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said. Firefighters have controlled 40 fires and are still battling 29, she added.

Earlier, Chile’s Finance Minister Mario Marcel told reporters that a preliminary estimate for damages in the Valaparaíso region would reach the “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

WATCH:

Per France 24:

The fires, blazing for days, forced authorities on Friday to close the road linking the Valparaiso region to the capital Santiago, about 1.5 hours away, as a huge mushroom cloud of smoke impaired visibility.

Images posted online from trapped motorists showed mountains in flames at the end of the famous “Route 68” leading to the Pacific coast.

According to Interior Minister Carolina Toha, the weekend blazes have been “without a doubt” the deadliest fire event in Chile’s history.

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“This was an inferno,” Rodrigo Pulgar, from the town of El Olivar, told AFP. “I tried to help my neighbor… my house was starting to burn behind us. It was raining ash.”

The fires are being driven by a summer heat wave and drought affecting the southern part of South America caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, as scientists warn that a warming planet has increased the risk of natural disasters such as intense heat and fires.

The rising temperatures threaten to engulf more of South America, as brigades in Argentina have been fighting a fire that has consumed more than 3,000 hectares in Los Alerces National Park, famed for its beauty and biodiversity, since January 25.

Not everyone believes rising temperatures, droughts, or El Nino sparked the Chilean wildfires.

“The wildfires that are happening in Chile right now have a very eerie similarity to what happened in Hawaii last year. Thousands of homes have been destroyed. State of emergency has been declared. Death toll is expected to rise,” Shadow of Ezra wrote.

“Authorities are investigating suspicions some of the fires were stated deliberately. It’s a wicked we weave, in order to deceive,” Persephone wrote.

There’s also this red flag for Valparaiso:

From SmartCity Chile (translated):

This edition of the Smart City Valparaíso regional event, stood out for the important presence of leaders in urban transportation, was attended by Denis Girault, Latam Director – Chile of Alstom, who presented the keynote talk: Tram, a means of transportation that reflects the unique identity of a city and adapts to the needs of each passenger, showing international cases where the Tram managed to be part of the city image and local identity. Also Rodrigo Halabi, Commercial Director of Alstom Chile, presented Aptis, the electric bus that revolutionizes the market, a 100% electric mobility solution inspired by the tram, this bus model is a benchmark in design and efficiency, achieving axes of rotation and parking much superior to current systems. Rodrigo Halabi commented that one of these models will be operating in Santiago for the month of March 2019, where the possibility of it being present at the inauguration of the Smart Home Pavilion that our entity will carry out together with Enel X in Huechuraba was discussed, presenting the best technologies. in home automation. For its part, Metro Valparaíso gave a complete presentation of its efficient and innovative system that serves the region, where José Miguel Obando, General Manager Metro Valparaíso, delighted with an inspiring vision of this system in the talk Technological innovation for the integration of public transportation . Rodrigo Cabrera, IP Solution Manager of IngeSmart, presented the Safe City Platform, where he explained how the Unified Safe City solution predicts and prevents incidents, improving emergency response and efficiency-IngeSmart. Rafael Villanueva, Pre-Sales Representative for Southern Latin America at Resolutions, also showed communication systems for emergencies in cities.

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The importance of the evolution of urban transportation systems, as well as associated technologies and infrastructure, allows strengthening decentralization, reducing the hours and efficiency of the trip to the Valparaíso region. In Europe, many cities have connection systems between cities with high-speed trains, encouraging inhabitants to migrate from densified centers to poles with a better quality of life. This is one of the reasons why our entity holds these urban planning events in different cities in Chile, to encourage dialogue and generate proposals that support such developments.

We believe that we must move towards a deep discussion that allows the different municipalities of Chile to access Smart City technology and infrastructure, since, despite the fact that there are other basic needs of cities, it is always necessary to be at the forefront in systems that improve the standard, with lighting, communication, transportation, and monitoring models that are incorporated into urban equipment. This is achieved with private investment in association with the public entity.

Could this scenario be similar to Hawaii or other areas hit by wildfires?

We’ll provide further updates on this developing story as they come in.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

View the original article here.


 

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