Authorities in Chile have reported that at least 112 people have died as a result of the devastating wildfires, while hundreds more remain missing.
President Gabriel Boric issued a warning on Sunday, stating that as long as forest fires burn in Valparaiso’s central region, the number of casualties would “significantly” increase.
“It is Chile as a whole that suffers and mourns our dead,” Boric said in a televised speech. “We are facing a tragedy of very great magnitude.”
Authorities said 200 people were reported missing in and around the city of Viña del Mar, a popular beach resort where some of the most intense fires have raged.
Residents in a number of the city’s eastern neighborhoods, which are well-known for their yearly international music festival, were forced to pick among the charred remnants of their homes after the fire decimated their neighborhoods.
On Friday, Boric proclaimed a state of emergency and offered assistance to those attempting to recover from the catastrophe.
“We are together, all of us, fighting the emergency,” he said. “The priority is to save lives.”
As of Sunday, the national disaster service SENAPRED reported that about 26,000 hectares (64,000 acres) of land had burned in the country’s center and southern areas of Latin America.
Authorities report that 31 firefighting helicopters and aeroplanes, along with 1,400 firefighters and 1,300 military troops, have been dispatched to combat the fires.
In Chile, summertime wildfires are not unusual, and approximately 27 people lost their lives in a series of flames in the south-central area of the nation last year.
The flames this season, however, have been more deadlier than previous ones, such as the ones in 2017 that were widely regarded as the worst in the nation’s history and claimed at least 11 lives.
Pope Francis, who is from Argentina, asked for prayers for the “dead and wounded in the devastating fires in Chile” during his Sunday speech.
In central Chile, the El Niño weather pattern caused record high temperatures, low humidity, and strong wind speeds, which in turn sparked the fires.
Scientists have cautioned that as a result of warmer temperatures brought on by climate change, natural calamities like wildfires are likely to occur more frequently.
