Chile assesses damage as deadly wildfires rage

Chilean authorities are assessing the damage caused by wildfires that have claimed over 110 lives and which President Gabriel Boric called the country’s biggest tragedy since the 2010 earthquake.

Drone images showed that entire neighborhoods were scorched in Viña del Mar (Valparaíso region), which is the hardest-hit area so far, according to natural disasters prevention and response agency Senapred.

Nearly 30,000ha and up to 6,100 houses have been burned, according to a tally from Monday morning. Record temperatures and strong winds are complicating efforts to control the flames, while prosecutors are looking into allegations of arson and two arrests have been made.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Although last year’s wildfires affected over 431,000ha, the ones this year are causing far higher economic losses as they burned more homes. Last year, around 2,500 homes were burned, according to the finance ministry.

“We can estimate that economic losses, not only because of the housing sector, will be several million dollars,” finance minister Mario Marcel said in a press release.

He added that Latin American development bank CAF and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have approved US$450mn in donations to help the country deal with the emergency, while the ministry has enacted tax benefits for those affected by the disaster. 

The 2023 fires caused estimated economic losses of US$883mn. But local authorities said they faced difficulties in preventing a repeat of the situation.

Viña del Mar’s mayor, Macarena Ripamonti, said in August that her administration was limited in implementing preventive regulations.

For example, banning garbage disposal in ravines or outlawing construction using flammable materials in areas previously affected by fires were blocked by other authorities because the city did not have the competencies to regulate urban development and construction this way.