With the death toll exceeding 132, more than 190 fires, hundreds of thousands of burned areas and damaged properties, Chile is experiencing the biggest natural disaster it has faced since the earthquake of 2010. According to what he reported in the First Program, the ambassador of Greece in the country, Efstathios Paizis-Paradellis , now the fires are probably under control and efforts are currently focused on recording the damage, finding bodies and handing them over to relatives and getting an overall picture of the situation.

“The truth is that the destruction is great. Over 100,000 acres at least in the Valparaiso and Viña del Mar area have burned, the residences that have been affected in some way are about 15,000, 35,000 people have been affected in one way or another. It is a very difficult situation for this particular area, there is no doubt,” said Mr. Paizis-Paradellis.

The government is trying to speed up the registration and they have already started and are announcing relief measures for those affected, noted the Greek ambassador, pointing out that it will take time to rebuild and repair the infrastructure, which of course can be repaired. “The first calculations are that the damages are in the order of one billion dollars,” he emphasized.

At this time, Chile is halfway through summer, as the Greek ambassador said. “February here, it’s August ours. Consequently, these temperatures are not unusual. The point is, there is a heat wave but there has also been a prolonged dry spell in recent years, which obviously played its part as well. Now many questions exist as to what caused such a great disaster. From the Fire Department’s point of view, and clearly from the government’s point of view, there are statements that the human factor is involved. (…) The President has said that there is the human factor. Others, however, ministers and the Fire Department which has taken over, have made clear reports of arson. It seems that these complaints are unfounded,” he said. Several of the buildings that were burned were in encroached lands, added the Greek ambassador.

“The Valparaiso area has a prehistory and there are several makeshift camps that have been set up by squatters, areas of course that have no infrastructure and that was one of the reasons they suffered all this damage. It is not entirely certain that behind this there are intentions to burn forest in order to create space for building. But it certainly seems that some “didn’t pay much attention to the matches they were carrying”” added Mr. Paizis-Paradellis.

Valparaiso has always been the most important port, has a very old history although it is no longer the first port of the country, the Greek ambassador explained. Viña del Mar is a sister city of Valparaiso and in fact the boundaries of the two cities are now indistinguishable. “The problem is not so much that the forest has been encroached upon in order to build the cities anarchically, the urban fabric of these two cities does not present a problem. The problem lies in the periphery. As I said, in these camps that are encroached areas.(…) One of the problems was that there were fires, outbreaks in inaccessible forest areas. Another problem was that the neighborhoods that suffered damage were densely populated and did not have all that planning for the evacuation of these areas,” he added.

“Amidst all the drama we at least have that does not arise within the Greek community that some property or some person has been affected. We are in communication with our non-paid consulate in Valparaiso and from what they are conveying to us, the Greek element there has not suffered any damages”, Mr. Paizis-Paradellis pointed out.

In fact, he also mentioned an interesting fact regarding firefighting in Chile. “The Fire Department here is made up exclusively of volunteers. All fire departments in the country are made up of volunteers. There are no professional firefighters over here. In the specific case of Valparaiso, we also have the honor of having one of the oldest fire brigades named, as of 2019, Greece. It has been a fire station since 1866, one of the oldest in the city. The firefighters wear the Greek flag on their uniforms and are one of the most respected and active fire stations in Valparaiso and certainly had an active role in extinguishing these fires.”