Q24N (VOA) Bogotá, Colombia — Colombia has declared a state of emergency in two regions as dozens of forest fires burned wide swaths of the country and left the capital choking on smoke during record temperatures linked with the El Nino weather phenomenon.
Colombia has extinguished hundreds of fires this month, but 25 continue to burn, according to data from the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) on Wednesday.
In the departments of Santander and Cundinamarca, where the capital, Bogota, is located, the fires have consumed about 600 hectares of forest and states of emergency were declared.
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The emergency measures free up funds to “quickly address the negative impact on the department’s natural resources,” said Cundinamarca Governor Jorge Emilio Rey.
More than half of the country’s municipalities are on red alert over the fire threat, with the areas around the capital hit hard.
Columns of white smoke billowed from the mountains surrounding Bogota on Wednesday, with people in the commercial district seen masking up against the thick haze and ash
President Gustavo Petro said global warming was aggravating the El Nino weather, a phenomenon typically associated with increased temperatures worldwide, drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.
“This may be the hottest year in the history of mankind,” he said, calling on “every mayor, every governor and the national government” to prioritize water supplies.
Nine towns in the north, center and east of Colombia posted record temperatures Tuesday of up to 40.4 degrees Celsius.
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The Colombian government on Thursday issued a disaster declaration and requested international aid due to dozens of wildfires spreading throughout the country.
“We want to make sure that we have the physical capacity to address and mitigate [these crises],” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Chile, Peru, Canada and the United States have responded to the request, although a timeline for aid is not yet clear.
The fires have already destroyed more than 6,600 hectares of vegetation, according to the National Disaster Risk Management Unit.
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Members of the Colombian Army and volunteers were deployed with hoes, rakes and machetes to clear unburned brush from the sloping hills surrounding the capital as water-ferrying helicopters buzzed overhead.
“Some areas have already been affected by the fire and some vegetation has not yet been consumed. What we are doing is trying to divide the burned areas from the unburned ones to prevent the fire from continuing to spread,” said Daniel Trujillo, a 23-year-old Colombian Civil Defense volunteer.
Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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