Argentina: the province of Corrientes ravaged by gigantic fires

In the province of Corrientes in Argentina, more than 800,000 hectares have gone up in smoke since mid-January.

AFP - ELENA BOFFETTA

Text by: Théo Conscience Follow

3 mins

Argentina is in the grip of gigantic fires, in the province of Corrientes, in the northeast of the country, more than 800,000 hectares have gone up in smoke since mid-January.

No deaths are to be deplored, but the fires have already caused heavy losses for the agricultural sector and significant environmental damage.

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With our correspondent in Buenos Aires

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The situation is quite catastrophic in the province of Corrientes.

More than 800,000 hectares have burned, more than a tenth of the territory of the province of Corrientes has gone up in smoke in just over a month.

The fires are consuming 30,000 hectares a day, and are progressing all the more rapidly as the region has been going through a period of intense drought for many months.

Families had to be evacuated urgently because of the advance of the flames in the north of the province in particular, near the border with Paraguay.

The fires also affected many crops of rice, yerba mate and pastures, resulting in more than 215 million euros in losses for farmers in the region.

The other concern concerns environmental damage, particularly in the Iberà National Park, where fires have already ravaged more than half of the wetlands known for their rich biodiversity.

More than 30,000 hectares of native forests have also burned.

The system put in place to fight the fire

The province of Corrientes has been declared an environmental disaster zone and more than 2,500 people are taking turns day and night to try to contain the ten or so outbreaks that are still active, with the support of ten water bomber planes and five helicopters.

Ten Argentine provinces have sent firefighters as reinforcements, and Bolivian and Brazilian volunteers are also on site.

Everyone hopes that the rains forecast for this Thursday will stop the progression of the flames.

Criticized for its late reaction, the Argentine government claims to spend the equivalent of 1.5 million euros every day to fight the fires, and has already announced aid of 500,000 million pesos, around 400,000 euros, for farmers affected by the fires.

The situation has also triggered a vast movement of solidarity among the population.

Saturday evening, Santiago Maratea, a 29-year-old influencer followed by more than 2 million people on Instagram, appealed for donations from his subscribers, 48 ​​hours later, more than 173 million pesos, or nearly 1 5 million euros had been collected.

Possible causes of the fire

Justice is currently studying 70 complaints, but the practice of burning is singled out.

These are fires lit voluntarily to renew the pastures, and which would have spread in an uncontrolled way because of the drought which affects the region.

As for indirect causes, environmentalists denounce

in the Argentine northeast, combined with the new precipitation regime due to

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