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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,

The week has started with tragedy in Chile as firefighters in the center of the country battled to quell fierce forest fires that have killed 123 people so far and razed entire neighborhoods, amid a heatwave in the country.

President Gabriel Boric warned the country faces a “tragedy of very great magnitude”.

Hundreds of people are still missing, authorities say, stoking fears the death toll will keep climbing as more bodies are found on hillsides and houses devastated by the wildfires.

Black smoke billowed into the sky over many parts of the Valparaiso region, home to nearly one million, while firefighters using helicopters and trucks struggled to quell the fires.

Also on my radar today:

• Germany to abstain on EU supply chain law vote
• EU agrees its first ever rules for ESG raters in sector shake-up
• Spain to invest $502 mln in desalination plants in Catalonia amid drought

An aerial view shows the remains of houses burnt following the spread of wildfires in Vina del Mar, Chile. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

The death toll from the wildfires hit 123 people as helicopters dumped tons of water on blazes and emergency crews told Reuters they were still finding bodies buried in the wreckage three days after the fires took hold.

The toll from Chile’s worst natural disaster in years was expected to climb further as residents, firefighters and military raced to clear rubble in residential areas of the coastal cities of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar where fireballs consumed houses within minutes.

The fires that gathered momentum on Friday menaced the outer edges of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, two coastal cities popular with tourists. The urban sprawl of those cities accounts for more than a million residents west of the capital Santiago.

Drone footage filmed by Reuters in the Vina del Mar area showed whole neighborhoods scorched, with residents rummaging through husks of burnt-out houses where corrugated iron roofs have collapsed. On the streets, singed cars littered the roads.

Other residents of Villa Independencia, a working-class neighborhood of Vina del Mar, described high winds and a fast-moving inferno.

“It’s like a war zone, as if a bomb went off,” said Jacqueline Atenas, 63, who fled her home in nearby Villa Independencia on Friday, returning to the wreckage on Monday carrying a small pink backpack, the only thing she had been able to save.

“It burned like someone was throwing gasoline on the houses. I don’t understand what happened… There was a lot of wind, a lot of wind and big balls of fire that would fly by.”

Wildfires are not uncommon in Chile over summer months. Last year, on the back of a record heat wave, some 27 people died and more than 400,000 hectares (990,000 acres) were affected.

The wildfires come as Chile’s capital and other regions are facing a heat wave, as meteorologists warn that extremely hot weather will become increasingly frequent in the country’s austral summer.

Over six million inhabitants of Chile’s capital Santiago have been enduring days of hot, dry temperatures made worse by the surrounding mountains blocking fresh

air to the city.

“The heat is very dense, you can’t be on the street,” student Marcela Rodriguez told Reuters. “Two minutes outside and you’ll end up fainting.”

Scientists have warned that climate change and El Nino are major drivers of extreme heat.

People gather to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake and remember their lost family and friends, in Hatay, Turkey. REUTERS/Dilara Acikgoz

Blaine Townsend, director of sustainable, responsible and impact investing at U.S.-based wealth management firm Bailard, shares his thoughts on wildfires and insurance:

“Wildfires have been shaping the natural world for over 400 million years.  Now, after a series of fire seasons fiercer and more damaging than any in modern history, will fires start to shape the markets too? 

“The insurance industry probably already knows the answer.  It has had a front-row seat of how climate change and natural disasters are shaping the landscape for the industry.

“Climate change has created longer and dryer fire seasons which has played a huge role in more severe fire seasons.  

“The insurance industry has also had to keep an eye on warmer oceans which have led to more frequent and violent hurricanes. 

“It’s been ten years since the industry think tank Geneva Association (GA) warned that climate change threatens the insurability of catastrophe. Those are the types of warnings heard that have made skeptical policy makers roll their eyes but may now be coming to pass. 

“Insurance in areas where wind and fire are posing risk is being pulled back from would-be homeowners and businesses for exactly this reason.  

“This underscores the significant impact that the climate has on the insurance industry. Insurers are opting out of underwriting policies where losses outweigh the premiums. Homeowners are facing mounting challenges, particularly in places with growing heightened climate risks.”

A deadly Pacific storm, the second atmospheric river storm or “Pineapple Express” weather system to sweep the West Coast in less than a week, dumped torrential rain over Southern California on Monday, triggering street flooding and mudslides throughout the region.

An atmospheric river is a vast airborne current of dense moisture carried aloft for hundreds of miles from the Pacific and funneled over land to fall as bouts of heavy rain and snow. It can appear as a trail of wispy clouds that can stretch for hundreds of miles. Click here for a Reuters explainer on the environmental phenomenon. 

A cat rescued from a wildfire receives treatment for burns at a wildlife rehabilitation center of University of the Americas in Vina del Mar, Chile. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

Today’s spotlight follows the aftermath of the wildfires in Chile as a vet rescues injured animals.

Among the mountains of debris left over from raging wildfires are lost dogs and cats, wandering the streets covered in ash and burns.

Some whine behind gates where houses used to be, others stick to new people they have found, and others still feed on piles of dog food people have left on street corners for them.

Nicolas Escobar, the University of Americas veterinary director, said the clinic has attended to more than 100 dogs, cats and rabbits since Friday, treating burns, giving oxygen and even reviving some of them.

He said the clinic has also been helping track down owners of lost pets through social media or by scanning microchips. Escobar said that they have been able to reunite a few pets, but many others remain missing. Kiara, Romero’s other dog and Black’s partner, is one of them.

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