At least 23 people have been confirmed killed after dozens of wildfires torched forests in Chile.
As firefighters struggled to control dozens of wildfires that have now killed at least 23 people, the Chilean government extended an emergency declaration to yet another region of the country.
Issued on Saturday, the latest emergency order covers the southern region of Araucania, in the middle of the South American country’s long Pacific coastline and next to the previously declared Biobio and Nuble regions as part of measures to allow the government to mobilise the military to help battle the fires.
“Weather conditions have made it very difficult to put out [the fires] that are spreading and the emergency is getting worse. We need to reverse that curve,” Interior Minister Carolina Toha told reporters at a news conference in Santiago.
Currently, about 23 people have died in connection to the fires with nearly half of them in the town of Santa Juana in Biobio which is located some 500km (310 miles) south of Santiago, 979 have been reported injured while more than 1,100 have sought refuge in shelters.
According to authorities, about 232 wildfires were still active on Saturday, including 16 that sparked to life earlier in the day, adding that the local temperatures in the southern hemisphere summer exceeded 40C (104F).
Chile’s disaster mitigation agency said 151 of the fires were now under control, while official data released late Friday showed that some 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) have been burned by the fires.
The three affected regions are sparsely populated and home to many farms, including where grapes, apples and berries are grown for export, plus extensive tracts of forest land.
Officials said that the governments of Spain, the United States, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela have offered help, including planes and firefighters.
Toha, the interior minister suggested that the fires should serve as yet another wake-up call about the effects of climate change as Chile is becoming one of the countries most vulnerable to fires, fundamentally due to the effects of climate change.
“The thermometer has reached points that we have never known until now,” she said.
On Friday, President Gabriel Boric cut short his summer vacation and travelled to Nuble and Biobio, pledging to make sure the affected areas receive all necessary support. He also pointed to “signs” that some fires may have been started intentionally but did not provide any additional details.
Story was adapted from Aljazeera.
