Climate Change & Conservation eNews

Chile’s massive forest fires that have killed 11 people and destroyed nearly 1,500 homes will cost the government $333 million, Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdes told reporters on Friday.

The government will reallocate $100 million from the current budget to mitigate the effects of the blazes, while another $233 million will be taken out of a rainy day fund that the government maintains for such situations, Valdes said at a press conference.

“Those are the costs that the state will have to assume in the preliminary estimate that we’re doing,” Valdes said. “That situation can change when we have more information, and it will depend on how the wildfires evolve.”