On Monday, the Chilean government declared a state of catastrophe in three regions.
The rainstorm affecting south-central Chile has left three dead and more than 34,000 people isolated in the middle of the southern winter, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Public Safety and the National Service for the Prevention and Attention of Catastrophes.
The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, said in statements to the press that there are “4,288 victims, 854 sheltered, 34,176 isolated, 32,728 evacuated, in addition to the regrettable death of three people.”
The minister gave a balance to the media on the impact of the catastrophe between the regions of Valparaíso and Biobío, at the end of the daily meeting of the National Committee for Disaster Risk Management.
“The magnitude of the episode we have faced has left enormous damages, damages that today are affecting thousands of Chilean men and women”, said Tohá pointing out that there were 120 thousand homes without electricity at national level, concentrated in the regions of O’Higgins, Maule and Metropolitan.
The tweet reads, “In Curepto, members of the Chilean Army collaborated in the evacuation of 50 people from the towns of Calpún, Paraguay and El Rodeo, who were affected by the Frontal System that hit the area.”
For its part, the Ministry of Education reported 357 educational establishments affected by the rains, of which 10 have major damages. In the midst of this situation, classes have been suspended in 67 communes of the country, affecting some 60 thousand school children and 8 thousand kindergarten students.
The Chilean Meteorological Directorate (DMC) has activated a rain alert between the Metropolitan Region of Santiago and the Maule (center-south), as well as a wind warning from the Coquimbo Region (center-north) to the south.
On Monday, the Chilean government declared a state of catastrophe in three regions, to which was added today a decree of agricultural emergency in 117 local municipalities.
President Gabriel Boric has expressed the intention of the Executive to deploy aid as soon as possible since “there are people who have been hit twice,” in reference to the storm that occurred last June. The President also rejected the construction of houses in irregular lots and unauthorized areas.
Source : Tele Sur
