{"id":15134,"date":"2024-02-06T00:46:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T00:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/06\/more-than-120-killed-by-raging-wildfires-in-chile-as-authorities-warn-toll-will-rise\/"},"modified":"2024-02-06T00:46:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T00:46:13","slug":"more-than-120-killed-by-raging-wildfires-in-chile-as-authorities-warn-toll-will-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/06\/more-than-120-killed-by-raging-wildfires-in-chile-as-authorities-warn-toll-will-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 120 killed by raging wildfires in Chile as authorities warn toll will rise"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Devastating wildfires tearing through swaths of Chile have killed more than 120 people, authorities said Monday, as they warned that the death toll was set to rise. <\/p>\n

At least 122 people have died so far, the Legal Medical Services of the city of Valparaiso said Monday. Officials also said that 32 bodies have been identified, 40 autopsies have been conducted, and 10 bodies are ready to be delivered to relatives. <\/p>\n

There are currently 161 active fires burning across the country, the Chilean National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (SENAPRED) said. <\/p>\n

President Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency as coastal cities like Vi\u00f1a del Mar and Valparaiso choked in smoke. Residents living in central regions were also <\/strong>forced to evacuate their homes. Speaking at a press conference held after visiting affected areas on Sunday, Boric raised fears that the death toll would \u201cincrease significantly.\u201d <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

He declared Monday and Tuesday as days of national mourning for fire victims. <\/p>\n

The human-caused climate crisis is making heat waves and droughts, which fuel wildfires, more frequent and intense. The world is also currently experiencing the El Ni\u00f1o phenomenon, boosting temperatures even further. <\/p>\n

Wildfires have intensified around the globe, providing a stark reminder of how the climate crisis is upending lives and inflicting\u00a0billions of dollars\u00a0a year in damage. And it will only get worse, according to experts. \u201cUncontrollable and devastating wildfires are becoming an expected part of the seasonal calendars in many parts of the world,\u201d the UN Environment Programme said in a report published in 2022. <\/p>\n

\ufeffThe number of extreme wildfire events will increase up to 14% by 2030, according to the UN report. By 2050, the increase will climb to 30%. <\/p>\n

In Chile, the fires come as the country battles a summer heatwave. The capital Santiago has been sweltering through consecutive days of hot and dry temperatures climbing above 33 degrees Celsius (91.4\u00b0F). <\/p>\n

Neighboring Colombia battled recent wildfires, declaring a disaster and also calling for international help to fight the flames. <\/p>\n

Emergency crews on the ground in Chile <\/strong>are prioritizing the fires in the port city of Valpara\u00edso because of its proximity to urban areas. Local officials said 372 residents were reported missing. <\/p>\n

Located about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of the capital Santiago on Chile\u2019s coast, Valparaiso is a popular tourist destination known for its colorful houses, idyllic hills and its historic old town. <\/p>\n

Chile\u2019s Finance Minister Mario Marcel told reporters on Sunday that preliminary estimates for damages in the Valapara\u00edso region was expected to reach \u201chundreds of millions of dollars.\u201d <\/p>\n

While evacuation efforts had been efficient, some living in affected areas did not want to vacate their homes, local search and rescue officials said. <\/p>\n

Rodrigo Mundaca, the governor of Valparaiso, said curfews were in place <\/strong>in the towns of Vi\u00f1a del Mar, Quilpu\u00e9, Villa Alemana and Limache to allow authorities to focus on battling the blazes. <\/p>\n

Pope Francis, who hails from nearby Argentina, called upon people to \u201cpray for the deceased and injured victims of the devastating fires that have affected central\u00a0Chile.\u201d <\/p>\n

According to police, the man was at his home in the city of Talca in central Chile doing welding work when a fire accidentally started and spread to nearby grasslands. <\/p>\n

The suspect will be arraigned on Sunday in Talca, according to the Maule Prosecutor\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n

Desperate search for survivors<\/h2>\n

\u201cI think she could be disoriented,\u201d Ariel Orellana said. \u201cI believe with all my faith and with all my heart that she is going to appear, eventually, to put an end to this nightmare.\u201d <\/p>\n

Orellana said his sister, Anastasia, was last seen when fleeing the wildfire in the Pompeya community in Vi\u00f1a del Mar, located in central Chile. <\/p>\n

The girl had been living with her mother and her mother\u2019s partner, who also died in the fires, according to Orellana. <\/p>\n

On Saturday, after not being able to communicate with his mother, Orellana rushed to Pompeya to search for the couple and discovered their bodies near their vehicle. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey did not have time to escape,\u201d Orellana said. \u201cThey had a van, they tried to flee on it and the van was engulfed by the fire.\u201d <\/p>\n

Orellana said he is continuing to search nearby areas ravaged by the fires and is using social media to spread the word about his sister disappearance. <\/p>\n

\u201cI only found two bodies, not three. So I\u2019m still looking for my sister,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Devastating wildfires tearing through swaths of Chile have killed more than 120 people, authorities said Monday, as they warned that the death toll was set to rise. At least 122 people have died so far, the Legal Medical Services of the city of Valparaiso said Monday. Officials also said that 32 bodies have been identified, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}