A large-scale wildfire that occurred in Chile, South America, has killed 131 people so far. Regarding the scale of the victims, a senior law enforcement official gave an exclusive interview to NHK, stating that there are more than 10 people who cannot be contacted at this time, and that the number of deaths is not expected to increase significantly in the future. Ta.
According to Chilean authorities, large-scale wildfires that occurred mainly in coastal areas have caused major damage, especially in mountainous areas with densely populated residential areas, and 131 people have been confirmed dead so far. .
Local fire officials previously said they were unable to contact more than 300 people.
Several top officials from the Chilean judicial authorities responded to NHK's exclusive interview on the 7th, and among them, Jaime Gajardo, a top judicial official, said that as a result of the search efforts, the number of people who could not be contacted was estimated. As of the 7th, it was revealed that there were 13 people.
``I hope that we can contact as many missing people as possible and that the number of victims will not increase any further,'' he added, indicating that he does not expect the number of deaths to increase significantly in the future. I did.
A senior official at a department that is working to confirm the identities of victims also said that there were no new reports of victims on the 7th, and that the number of deaths will increase significantly in the future. The outlook is that it will not increase.
UNDRR urges countries to invest in fire prevention
In response to the large-scale wildfire that broke out in Chile, South America, the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction Agency (UNDRR) issued a statement on the 5th, saying, ``This disaster is considered the worst wildfire ever in Chile, and the number of victims is expected to rise further.'' ”.
According to the statement, approximately 1.47 million wildfires occurred in Central and South America between 2009 and 2019, and it is estimated that an average of 33 million hectares of land is damaged by fire each year. is.
In addition, some studies show that wildfires are becoming more widespread and are now nearly twice as expensive as they were 20 years ago, and a United Nations report predicts that by 2030, due to climate change and changes in land use, It points out that the number of large-scale wildfires is predicted to increase by up to 14% worldwide by 2020.
UNDRR issues an early warning to countries, saying, ``Countries must also invest in fire prevention, as seen in the devastating fires that raged in Europe last year and the devastating fires in Hawaii.'' We are calling on people to take measures to reduce the risk of wildfires, such as improving systems.