The number of fierce fires that devastated Chile's Valparaiso tourist region, considered the deadliest in the country's recent history, continued to worsen on Tuesday, with 131 people dead but also many missing and thousands without shelter.
• Also read: Fires in Chile: The death toll rises to 122, the country is in mourning
• Also read: The Deadliest Wildfires of the 21st Century
As the country marks its second and final day of national mourning to commemorate the victims of these devastating fires, the Forensic Service (SML) reported 131 deaths, compared to 123 on Monday.
The Chilean authority responsible for updating the number of deaths said in a statement that of the 131 victims, only 35 have been identified so far.
AFP
The director of the institute, Marisol Prado, pointed out that it will begin to take samples from people who reported the disappearance of a loved one in order to then carry out “identification through DNA”.
She specified that the identification of the bodies is currently done using biometric tests and fingerprints.
President Gabriel Boric called the fires “the biggest tragedy” the country has seen since the 2010 earthquake, followed by a tsunami that killed more than 500 people.
AFP
Nine fires remain active in the forested areas of the affected region, but they are under control and no longer threaten urban areas, a source in the presidential delegation in Valparaiso told AFP. According to the fire department, they could all be extinguished within a week.
However, in the midst of southern summer and scorching temperatures, there are still 165 fires in ten regions in central and southern Chile, according to the latest report from the National Civil Protection and Civil Protection Service (Senapred).
“Take out the bodies”
On densely populated hills in the hardest-hit areas, volunteers and rescue brigades are helping clear debris from charred homes and cars as rescue teams continue to search for missing people.
AFP
“We need them to bring out the bodies of our loved ones, that's all we ask,” said Claudia Salazar, niece of the gardener at the Viña del Mar Botanical Garden, who lived in a flame-ravaged house in the park.
The mayor of the seaside resort, Macarena Ripamonti, announced on Sunday that around 190 people were missing in the city. Further figures on the possible number of missing people have not yet been released.
AFP
Pope Francis, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the United States, the European Union, France, Spain and Mexico, which sent two planes loaded with food on Tuesday, expressed solidarity and offered help to Chile.
President Gabriel Boric thanked the offers of help during a trip to Viña del Mar: “International solidarity is active (…) I even received messages from Latvia and Romania,” he said. He rocks.
AFP
The heat wave that is affecting central and southern Chile and is the result of the El Niño climate phenomenon is affecting the entire Southern Cone and is also causing significant forest fires in Argentina.
In southern Patagonia, in the Argentine province of Chubut, around 6,000 hectares of forest were devastated by fire. Argentine firefighters are also fighting another fire in an important nature reserve in the neighboring province of Rio Negro.