President Gabriel Boric announced a two-day mourning period after wildfires ravaged Chile for three days.
—
The death toll from the devastating wildfires in Chile has risen to at least 122, though authorities expect the number to climb further as residents, firefighters, and the military race against time to clear rubble in residential areas of the hard-hit coastal cities of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar, west of the capital Santiago.
“We’re standing before a tragedy of immense proportions,” said President Gabriel Boric, who announced a two-day mourning period and said the wildfires were the worst disaster the country has seen since the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, which claimed more than 500 lives.
Speaking with the media, residents described moments of panic as the fires broke out and spread quickly due to strong winds that were “blowing like a hurricane.”
“It’s like a war zone, as if a bomb went off,” a 63-year-old resident of Villa Independencia told Reuters.
The Chilean government is facing criticism for potentially flawed evacuation procedures that may have contributed to the death toll after residents reported receiving late alerts and struggling to escape the fast-moving inferno. Authorities are also investigating whether some of the fires were sparked deliberately.
What Is to Blame?
A decade-long drought in the country created the perfect conditions for the wildfires to break out and spread. Chile has battled with extreme temperatures for more than a decade, with authorities forced to implement water restrictions and rationing in recent years to avoid country-wide water shortages. Water availability in Chile has already dropped down to 10%-37% over the past 30 years, and it is estimated to plummet further in the next few decades as the effects of climate change worsen, with availability in northern and central Chile expected to be halved by 2060.
Experts say that human-induced climate change is to blame for at least 25% of the drought’s severity. In the last decade, the already arid country has experienced a significant rise in temperatures as well as a drastic reduction in precipitation.
Warming temperatures have also caused glaciers to retreat. The Andean glaciers, the melting water of which fed rivers and lakes below and provided vital resources for communities in and around the mountain range for hundreds of years, have shrunk 98% this century. This massive loss of ice poses a threat to water supplies and agriculture in Chile and neighbouring Bolivia.
“Chile is one of the countries with the highest vulnerability to climate change, and this isn’t theory but rather practical experience. The thermometer has reached points that we have never known until now,” Interior Minister Carolina Toha said in the aftermath of deadly blazes that hit the country in February 2023.
This time, however, scientists say that on top of already existing arid conditions, last week’s blazes were also likely worsened by El Niño, a cyclical weather pattern that returned last year, bringing “off the charts” temperatures around the world and leading to significantly more intense extreme weather events. In October 2023, experts say the weather phenomenon is expected to last well into 2024.
You might also like: Chile Water Crisis: 13 Years and Counting
