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Through a publication in the Official Gazette, President Sebastián Piñera, together with the Minister of the Interior Víctor Pérez, reported that the preventive state of emergency extends during the months of October, November and December 2020, and January, February, March, April and May 20201, in regions affected by forest fires.
The measure is declared “to the regions of Atacama, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Libertador Bernardo O’higgins, Maule, Ñuble, Biobío, Araucanía, Los Ríos, Los Lagos, Aysén, Magallanes and the Chilean and Metropolitan Antarctic of Santiago”, states the publication.
The reasons? According to the Official Gazette and as requested by the National Emergency Office and the National Forestry Corporation, “the risk of imminent development of forest fires between the Atacama and Magallanes regions is mainly due to the decrease in rainfall, the Accumulated drought that drags the country for the tenth consecutive year, the high availability of dead fine fuel and vegetation with water stress, a circumstance that worsens in the spring and summer months, especially due to the high temperatures forecast above normal and counting from October of this year “.
In addition, the publication adds that the absence of conditions, technical and financial resources necessary for a timely operational response by the technical agencies of the State with competencies in the matter, which allow to prevent and address the onset of the events in question, “together with the unforeseen situation of avoiding its occurrence by projecting to national parks, reserves, forest areas, interface areas, the appropriate and sufficient means for warning and combat in a timely manner.”
The Government indicates that it is essential to apply educational and communication strategies to prepare and engage the population in actions to safeguard the existing forest heritage, together with the knowledge of the benefits and positive effects to be reported to the inhabitants, the conservation, the care and protection required by forest areas, as well as the consequences that the negative impact of their destruction represents for the environment, for the life and health of the entire population, their surroundings and for the country’s economy.
Finally, therefore, “the frequent occurrence of such events and the meteorological conditions that affect the national territory make it essential to provide the technical agencies of the State, with competencies in the matter, with the essential elements for a timely, effective and efficient action, as well as for the adoption of the indispensable preventive measures that allow to face the fires that threaten the national parks and forest reserves “.
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