Colombia declares a state of emergency to confront dozens of raging forest fires

2024-01-27 2024-01-27T09:08:07Z

ArabiaWeather - The Colombian government announced on Thursday that a disaster had occurred; Due to the raging fires in the forests, I have officially requested international assistance to confront this situation, and the intensity of the fires is expected to increase in the coming days as a result of the dry and warm conditions associated with the El Niño climate phenomenon.

In a new update, officials raised the number of fires from 25 to 31 , as they were able to control nine of them, while they did not take compulsory evacuation measures, despite the outbreak of some fires in the mountainous areas surrounding some municipalities.

Dozens of forest fires raging in Colombia

President Gustavo Petro confirmed that Chile, the United States, Peru and Canada have already responded to the government's appeal for assistance, without specifying when the aid will arrive in the South American country.

The government also submitted a request for assistance to the United Nations and the European Union. In his remarks, Petro said:

“We expect crises to escalate in the coming days and weeks, and we want to ensure our financial ability to deal with them and mitigate their effects.”

Colombia's Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies reported that about half of the country's municipalities are on high alert due to the danger of fires. However, about a third of municipalities lack a fire department, according to Colombia's National Fire Department.

The exacerbation of the fires is due to lower rainfall and higher temperatures, which promote the El Niño phenomenon, a temporary increase in temperatures in the central Pacific, leading to global weather impacts.

The disaster declaration allows the government to redirect funds to fight forest fires. In emergency measures, the military has deployed more than 600 soldiers, as well as aircraft and vehicles to emergency areas. Meanwhile, police are using licensed aircraft to spray chemicals on coca leaf fields to transport and drop water on the fires. , including those that erupted in a mountain range surrounding the capital, Bogotá.