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Their precarious homes have been turned to ashes and the fire in the Laguna Verde neighborhood of Iquique not only shattered their dreams of improvement, but also destroyed almost all their belongings. “We have lost everything,” lamented a grieving fellow countryman.
The Consulate revealed on Tuesday night that there are already 100 Bolivian families affected by the incident.
“We estimate that between 350 to 400 Bolivian citizens would be affected by the fire, we are talking between the elderly and minors. In terms of family, we are talking about around 100 families, ”said the Bolivian consul in Chile, Eloy Poma, in an interview with Cadena A.
One of the first measures that the Government of Bolivia will assume is to assist in the processing of personal documents, which in most cases were lost in the incident that occurred on Monday in the Chilean coastal city and which mobilized regional and national authorities. .
You can also read: VIDEO: impressive fire in Iquique leaves at least 30 homes destroyed
“From the Bolivian Consulate in Iquique they are supporting the process of replenishing identity documentation as a first step, since many of the compatriots have lost not only their home, but also their personal documents,” reports an institutional bulletin of the Bolivian Foreign Ministry.
The fire started during afternoon hours and the flames spread rapidly, as a result, the National Emergency Office of the Ministry of the Interior (Onemi) declared a yellow alert and issued a report warning about the “presence of irregular homes and the difficult access to the place ”, according to information from Chilean newspapers.
The local government set up two schools to house the victims, but some decided to return to the scene of the accident to try to recover something from the ashes.
“We are more than 300 Bolivians who have lost our homes due to this fire, we have lost our documentation, we have lost our money, we ask the national authorities to help us. Of all those affected, we are 70% of the entire camp ”, said an affected Bolivian in a contact with the Unitel network.
In the neighborhood, which is an illegal settlement, foreigners of other nationalities also live.
According to the testimonies, some compatriots decided to evade the list of the authorities because they entered the neighboring country in an irregular manner, which hinders the work of the Bolivian Consulate.
However, Poma is confident that the Bolivian community organization will help all those affected.
“Compatriots tell us that they have been left with nothing, practically everything burned,” he said.
Among those affected are merchants, bricklayers, miners and workers from the free zone that is located in that Chilean city.
In this context, Poma revealed that he made arrangements with Chilean authorities to facilitate the return to the country of Bolivians who so wish.
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