The Chilean President, Gabriel Boricaffirmed this Friday that the possible perpetrators will be found if the fire that affected Viña del Mar it was intentional. The president toured the area affected by the fire, which was already controlled by firefighters.
“We are working with the Prosecutor’s Office, with the PDI, to establish whether or not there was intentionality here. There are different lines of investigation, and know that if there is intention we will move heaven, sea and earth to find those responsible,” he said at a press conference.
Gabriel Boric affirmed that they will support all those affected by the fire in Viña del Mar. According to the authorities, 131 houses are affected, a figure that can rise to 500 houses in the hills of the coastal city.
“The cadastre is being carried out to effectively know what specific aid is needed and where. We have allocated the resources so that they are available in a timely manner (…) This cannot be news only for one, two, three or four days; we have to take advantage of it to carry out a management, a contingency plan, that allows us to prevent,” said the head of state.
In addition, Boric stressed the need to focus efforts on fully controlling the fire, avoiding “fights for visibility” and seeking to “support families in everything they need.”
state of catastrophe
The government of President Gabriel Boric decreed a state of catastrophe in Viña del Mar. A head of National Defense will have the power, eventually, to limit constitutional rights and to take control and requisition all the goods that are required to face the emergency in the area.
“The President of the Republic has instructed to declare a state of constitutional exception of catastrophe due to public calamity” in the Valparaíso region, announced the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.
“There was a very quick response to the start of this fire but despite this, as a result of the place where this fire develops, the weather conditions, the wind and the presence of combustible material, it spreads very aggressively and quickly,” the official explained.
The fire occurred in the upper area of the city of Viña del Mar, 120 km west of Santiago. The flames, favored by strong gusts of wind, consumed ravines and hills in a few hours until they reached the most inhabited sectors of this seaside resort on the Chilean central coast, neighboring the tourist port of Valparaíso.
(EFE)