According to the "Reference News", citing the Efe news agency on February 2**, after entering the summer in South America, Argentina and Chile suffered extreme heat waves today. At the same time, forest fires have broken out in many countries, including Brazil and Colombia.
According to Argentina's National Meteorological Service, 20 provinces in Argentina are still on extreme temperature alert in a heat wave on the 2nd, and the temperature in some areas may exceed 40 degrees Celsius. All provinces north of the southern province of Chubut are on alert due to extreme temperatures. The highest level of red alert for high temperatures will affect the city of Buenos Aires and more than a dozen provinces, including Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Río Negro and others.
The extreme heatwave event began earlier this week and could last all weekend. The highest temperatures can occur in the Cuyo region on the eastern slopes of the Andes in central Argentina. The weather department expects temperatures to exceed 42 degrees Celsius over the weekend.
In the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, temperatures can reach 39 degrees Celsius, so authorities advise residents to take maximum precautions against heat and avoid dehydration.
During a week of extreme temperatures in Argentina and neighboring Chile, forest fires also broke out around Bogotá, Colombia.
Due to the El Niño phenomenon, South America has an unstable weather in the summer, often experiencing heat waves and heavy rains.
According to the report, on the 3rd, a number of disasters occurred simultaneously in the central area of Valparaíso, 100 kilometers east of Santiago, the capital of Chile, resulting in many deaths. Chile** Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency in the country to mobilize the necessary resources to respond to the emergency.
Chile's Ministry of the Interior reported that there is no exact data on the number of victims, with some reports stating 10 people killed and others stating 16. At least 1,000 households are expected to be affected,** and a curfew was also declared in several towns in the Valparaiso region to speed up the arrival of emergency services and avoid unnecessary travel for residents.
On February 3, 2024 local time, in the Viña del Mar region of Chile, houses were charred black after a forest fire. Visual China Diagram.
The mayor of Viña del Mar, one of the cities most affected by the fires, said Ripa Monti: "We are facing an unprecedented catastrophe. ”
The first major forest fires of the summer have struck around the Chilean coastal cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, forcing several inland communities to evacuate residents, according to the report. Thick black smoke covered the entire coast and even extended to beaches farther away from the center of the fire, such as Concon, Quintero and Maitensillo, nearly 100 kilometers from the center of the fire.
At noon on the 2nd, the fire ignited in the protected area of Lake Penueiras, about 20 kilometers from Valparaíso, the cause of the fire is not yet known, forcing the closure of the road connecting the capital to these coastal cities.
Given the strong winds, the scorching heat, and the difficulty of stopping the fire, even crossing wide highways, the Chilean Disaster Prevention and Response Service issued a red alert and asked for the evacuation of six communities, where an environmental tragedy had apparently occurred.
The most devastating situation occurred near Los Moscoso, next to the town of Kirpue, where 60 hectares have been burned so far, while 480 hectares have been burned in the Penueras Lake Reserve, according to the Disaster Prevention and Response Service.
It is also reported that Brazil** recently said that a total of 2,049 forest fires occurred in the Brazilian Amazon region in January this year, almost double the number of forest fires in the same period last year (1,059), which is also the highest number of forest fires in January in the past eight years.
According to data released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, the number of fire hotspots measured by the institute's satellites jumped 94% in January compared with a year earlier.
The fact that there are so many forest fires in months when fires are usually less frequent is due to the historic drought that the Amazon has been facing since last September, which is also the result of the El Niño phenomenon.
According to meteorologists, the impact of El Niño is mainly due to a decrease in rainfall in the region, which will not ease until February and March.
*: The Paper).