The European Union said Friday that it has deployed more than 250 firefighters from Portugal, France and Spain to help extinguish fires in Chile that are raging in the center and south of the country and have left 24 people dead.
Following the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism by the Chilean authorities, Portugal has deployed 141 firefighters, coordination and medical teams on the ground, while France has mobilized 80 firefighters and Spain has mobilized two firefighting teams of 28 people and 10 experts in forest fire assessment.
Faced with the advance of the flames, which have forced a curfew to be declared in the regions of Biobío, Ñuble and La Araucanía, the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, highlighted the involvement of France, Portugal and Spain in order «not to forget what is happening in other parts of the world», when humanitarian crises such as the one in Ukraine due to Russian aggression or the earthquake in Turkey and Syria are overlapping.
«The response to this overwhelming disaster, mobilized by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, once again demonstrates its added value in international efforts to save lives, while representing the best of European solidarity in action both within the EU and around the world,» he assessed.
As part of its response to this natural disaster, the European Emergency Response Centre has also activated the Copernicus satellite observation service which has produced 15 maps of the areas affected by the fires.
In recent months, the EU has channelled 100,000 euros in emergency aid to support the work of the Red Cross in Chile to deal with the consequences of the fire that struck the Valparaiso region last December.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
