By María M. Mur
Viña del Mar, Chile, Feb 5 (EFE).- The most voracious fire in Chile’s recent history reduced the popular Botanical Garden of Viña del Mar to ashes over the weekend, leaving only a few resilient trees that are still struggling to survive, as their ancestors did eight decades ago after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
Surrounded by burnt palm, pine, and eucalyptus trees, in a small plain where the green contrasts with the black and gray tones that have stained the rest of the park, stand six camphor trees, three persimmon trees, and 13 Ginkgo biloba trees.
No one can understand why the plain was spared by the fire that devoured the park of one of the most important tourist towns on the Chilean coast in just one hour on Friday.
Viña del Mar is located in the province of Valparaiso, 120 kilometers (74 miles) northwest of Santiago, which was the epicenter of an unprecedented wave of fires that claimed the lives of at least 122 people, including one of Viña’s botanical garden workers and three of her relatives.
Viña’s 400-acre botanical garden, founded by a saltpeter magnate more than a century ago, was one of the city’s main tourist attractions, with an average of 4,000 visitors during the summer.
“The fire didn’t just pass through this area, but there was very intense heat and the leaves (of the Japanese trees) were toasted, but I’m hoping they will sprout again,” Alejandro Peirano, director of the garden, told EFE.
The trees arrived in Viña del Mar as part of the “Green Legacy of Hiroshima” program, through which Japan sent seeds to other countries from the 100 or so trees that miraculously survived the 1945 atomic bombing, which turned the city into a radioactive desert and killed 140,000 people.
The goal is to distribute the seeds of the “Hibakujumoku” (nuked trees), as these surviving trees are known, to raise awareness about nuclear threats and war.
After several months in a special nursery, the 22 specimens were planted in October 2022 in this green field, which today has also become a symbol of resistance.
“These trees are doubly strong. They withstood Hiroshima (…) and if they finally survive the catastrophe we are experiencing, they will be a double symbol”, said Peirano.
“A hurricane of fire”
One of the garden’s employees, who had worked painstakingly for months to ensure that the germinated seeds from Japan would grow on the other side of the Pacific, was Patricia Araya, known as “La Pati,” who died in the flames along with her mother and two grandchildren, ages 9 and 1.
Araya had lived in the enclosure for decades, as had several of the park’s 60 employees, and in her still-smoldering home, pieces of crockery, kitchen utensils, and an eyeglass case can be seen among the ashes.
“Mrs. Rosa, Pati’s mother, could hardly move, and they could not escape. It’s a shame,” Pamela Zelada, a friend of the family and daughter of another park worker, told EFE.
“Our house was saved by a miracle, we poured water as best we could. It was like a hurricane of fire, I don’t know how we didn’t all die, the wind kept changing direction,” her brother Gabriel admitted to EFE.
The director of the garden told EFE that they also fear for the life of another worker who is in the hospital and was trapped by the flames while trying to save his house in El Salto, a nearby area.
“We are like a family and we are devastated,” he added.
“These arsonists are murderers”
Several fires broke out on Friday in different parts of the Valparaiso region, which includes Viña del Mar, plunging Chile into its worst tragedy since the 2010 earthquake.
Most of the fires are now under control, but dozens of people are still missing and the government has warned that the death toll will rise “significantly” as rescue teams gain access to the devastated localities.
Because of the simultaneity and location of the outbreaks, authorities have “serious” suspicions that many of the fires were arson.
On Monday, at least two people were arrested for allegedly participating in the fire that consumed the botanical garden.
“Irreversible damage has been done and those responsible should be in jail,” announced Valparaiso Governor Rodrigo Mundaca, who said in harsh statements over the weekend that “the arsonists have become murderers.” EFE
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