As of writing this chronicle, two weeks have passed since the catastrophic fire that affected various population sectors of Viña del Mar, Quilpué, Villa Alemana and other places in the Fifth Region.
In order to observe on the ground how the situation is at the moment, I went to one of the affected places, the Argentine Town, located at bus stop 32 of the urban trunk, towards the south side and in the upper part, between the sectors called San Gregorio, Valencia and Pompeya, in the commune of Quilpué, which covers around four blocks around.
Arriving at the damaged place, I found a barrier guarded by a couple of Carabineros that prevents the transit of private vehicles towards the damaged town ‘with the aim of allowing, mainly, the good circulation of trucks and machinery dedicated to removing debris. Thus, the first thing I could observe was the almost total absence of debris, both on the streets and on the damaged land.
The entire sector looked like an area devastated by a bombing, with many tents in different places along with remains of walls and metal from what a few days ago were houses.
Those who were working in the sector were the affected residents themselves, and the almost total absence of volunteer groups could be noted.
“From the first days, many volunteers arrived and cooperated intensely with the cleaning and removal of debris from the place, long before some government officials or state institutions began to appear,” a neighbor tells me, adding that “In the case of my place, where my house was, on the second day a group of coworkers came to help me, some family and friends also arrived; “This same thing happened in almost the entire population.”. He also tells me that last weekend he arrived “A group of young people from the Wanderers, almost all of them came with green t-shirts and with flags, they worked very well, with a lot of energy and in a few hours they cleaned many places and removed the debris, leaving it organized in the streets, but as I say, this It was for the entire first week and a half; Later, with the measures they applied, such as the curfew and the prohibition of driving at certain hours to allow them to remove the debris, the trucks were able to do the job much more easily, but as I said, all that work was done for the people who voluntarily came to work together with the residents, that is why you see that the streets are like this, quite clean and free of debris.”
The chilling stories given by this resident related to the characteristics and magnitude of what she experienced during the night of Friday, February 2nd and the early morning of Saturday 3rd, including the death of several neighbors, as well as the death of numerous pets. , together with the desperation to evacuate the place in the middle of the flames, the smoke, the chaos and the panic to escape alive in the middle of that hell, they left me breathless when I heard them directly and in the same place where they occurred. It is not the case to reproduce in this chronicle the details of what this girl narrated, but we have all seen the images of this megafire transmitted through the media and social networks to dimension what was reported and we know that, until now, 132 is the official number of deceased people, but there are still a dozen more people who remain missing, which accounts for a drama of very large proportions.
When I asked her if she had the possibility of receiving aid bonuses and if she had been surveyed for that purpose, she answered affirmatively, adding that “For me, the most important help I have received has been from my co-workers, because they came en masse to help me and bring me merchandise. They also brought me help from the FENATS union, because I work delivering medicines in a doctor’s office. of the Health Service. The management was also a seven, because they gave me thirty days of leave so that I could dedicate myself to cleaning my place and doing all the necessary paperwork. I am here in my place every day, I come to continue cleaning and tidying up because then classes will start in March and winter is just around the corner. I have to move quickly and I have to find the means to buy a prefabricated house, the most economical possible, because I have to have a roof for myself and my daughter, I cannot wait for the possibility of being given emergency housing and the solution of a permanent house, of building something more solid, like what I had, that will be more long-term. That is why all the help that comes, be it bonuses and contributions that friends, friends, acquaintances of my friends, and acquaintances of my friends are making, is welcome and, within this misfortune, I feel lucky, because I am not and do not feel alone.
From what I have seen and talked to other neighbors, we are all in the same situation. You can see that there are several who have already started to put up their half-water tents, but for now, most of us are sleeping in tents.”
The strength of this mother is remarkable who, with admirable tranquility and optimism, shows me the empty place with the traces of the fire reflected on the blackened earth and some remains of concrete and metal from what used to be her house, while at the same time while he explains to me how he plans to build and distribute his future home, explaining to me that “Now I am leveling the land to put the house up there, lower down I want to build the bathroom, but bigger than the one I had, in a kind of little room where I have the laundry room and a place to hang clothes indoors in the winter; Further down, where there was a grapevine and other fruit trees such as a fig tree, a peach and a plum tree and there were also some tuna bushes, I am making some terraces to make some gardens and place plants; Since the slope of the land is inclined, we were with you now arranging and moving the loose earth, giving it a more even inclination and then we have to wet the earth and flatten it well. They even gave me several little plants, flowers and all that, so I’m also going to make a little garden. “I’m not going to die, I have a daughter who went to university and we just have to get ahead.”
She also tells me that many houses in that town are the result of an old occupation that was later regularized and urbanized, but this is not the case for her and four other families that border their land, so, despite the fact that they have tried to have their land regularized, they have not yet achieved it “Of course this place belonged to my dad, it is registered, that’s why they gave us the bonus, he took care of it for a long time and about three years ago we decided to become independent with my daughter who had already finished high school and we came here , where we built and fixed our house day by day, with a lot of effort, but with a lot of enthusiasm too, but, in the blink of an eye, nothing was left with the fire, but well, as I said before, we have to continue fighting and pulling up.”
While we were talking, some officials from the Municipality of Quilpué arrived, delivering a couple of boxes with personal hygiene and home cleaning items. I take the opportunity to ask him if this is the first help they have received from the municipality and he tells me that “They already gave us another box with merchandise and now they told me that they would continue to deliver other things and merchandise periodically, with the idea that the money we receive would be used only for the purchase of construction materials”. A few minutes later, around 2 p.m., a group of people came over to offer us a snack. The neighbor told me that in this case “They are volunteers who come from some common soup kitchens, from neighborhood associations, but there are also people who are from the same family who prepare lunch in their own home and bring the trays with the snacks that they distribute directly, visiting the different places in the town. and they give it to the residents and the volunteers who are working there at that moment. For this reason, we have not lacked food, there is a lot of solidarity.”
In the afternoon, as I leave the sector, I observe a patrol of soldiers with camouflage suits and automatic rifles moving at a slow pace through the streets of the town and I take the opportunity to ask a neighbor I meet on my way if the uniformed men have participated in the removal of debris and/or in the cleaning of the sites, but the answer is negative “No, they make rounds sometimes, but I have not seen them with shovels or chuzos at work, they just walk around with their weapons on their backs, but their presence here is still useful.”
Taking into account the story given by this neighbor of the Argentine Population, it can be deduced that, once again, before the help of the State, the government and the institutions begins to be deployed, it is the residents themselves who, in solidarity and voluntarily, come. immediately to the aid of their peers.
This chronicle is very particular and should be read as such, as it represents the reality of a certain affected population, of a limited sector in relation to the different places and territories affected by the megafire, so what is stated here cannot be generalized or extrapolated. to other realities, but it is a description of what I was able to observe and confirm directly in this specific place in the commune of Quilpué two weeks after this catastrophe occurred.
Guillermo Correa Camiroaga, Quilpué February 16, 2024
