After Earthquakes and Volcanoes, Chile Is Threatened by New Natural Disaster
- Climate change fueling wildfires across center-south of Chile
- Hundreds displaced as government ratchets up spending
Chilean firefighters help put out a forest fire in Galvarino, Araucania Region, central Chile, on Feb. 8, 2019.
Photographer: Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images
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Chile, scene of the world’s largest-ever earthquake and some of its most active volcanoes, is learning to live with a disaster that is getting worse every summer.
This season, 4,645 fires have destroyed 59,122 hectares (146,000 acres) of woodland, destroying more than 50 homes, killing three and leaving dozens injured or homeless. The flames hit a hill in the center of Santiago last night forcing the partial evacuation of a zoo, while the mountains to the west of the city glowed red and smoke billowed across the main highway to the coast.