1. LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS CHILE PART 5: WILDFIRES Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA

2. NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN CHILE FLOODS WINDSTORMS EARTHQUAKES/TSUNAMIS VOLCANOES WILDFIRES GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE HIGH BENEFIT/COST FROM BECOMING DISASTER NRESILIENT GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES

3. Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters Planet Earth’s atmospheric- lithospheric interactions create situations favorable for Wildfires (AKA BUSHFIRES)

4. CHILE’S CITIES

5. WILDFIRES are conflagrations caused by lightning discharges (or acts of man) in wilderness areas close enough to one or more urban interfaces that they threaten people, property, infrastructure, and business enterprise.

6. SCIENCE OF WILDFIRES

7. LOCATIONS OF 2012’S NOTABLE WILDFIRES

8. WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) FIRE HOT GASES AND SMOKE HOT SPOTS BURNED OUT SLOPES (with increased susceptibility to insect infestation, erosion, and landslides)

9. WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) SUNDOWNER WINDS LOCAL CHANGES IN AIR QUALITY LOCAL CHANGES IN WEATHER

10. LIGHTNING STRIKES WILDFIRES (AKA BUSHFIRES) MANMADE FIRES PROXIMITY OF URBAN AREA TO THE WILDLAND FIRE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION (DAY/NIGHT DIFFERENCES) DRYNESS HIGH TEMPERATURES LOCAL FUEL SUPPLY CAUSES OF DAMAGE DISASTER LABORATORIES

11. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES PREPAREDNES FOR THE EXPECTED AND UNEXPEDTED IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

12. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES TIMELY EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

13. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES EARLY WARN- ING (THE ISS) AND EVACUATION ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

14. NOTABLE WILDFIRES IN CHILE 2012’s wildfires - the worst Chile has seen in years - were worsened by strong winds, high temperatures and exceptionally dry conditions

15. Chile's southern regions, normally experiencing rain in January, were suffering instead from a nationwide heat wave on top of a drought; two factors that make wildfires more likely.

16. LOCATIONS

17. Nearly 50 wildfires in southern Chile destroyed hundreds of houses, forced the evacuation of thousands of people, and caused millions of dollars in damage to the forestry and tourism industries.

18. TORRE DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK ( AFTER THE DEC. 2011 FIRES )

19. WILDFIRE IN BIO BIO REGION: JAN. 4, 2012 The worst of the blazes were concentrated in Chile's Bio Bio region, where about 24,800 hectares were destroyed

20. BIO BIO (QUILLON AREA) WILDFIRE: JAN 5, 2012

21. QUILLON AREA WILDFIRE: JAN 5, 2012

22. AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK: QUILLON AREA WILDFIRE: JAN 5, 2012

23. A POSSIBLE TASK: FIGHTING THE QUILLON AREA WILDFIRE

24. FIGHTING THE QUILLON WILDFIRES

25. WILDFIRE IN BIO BIO REGION: JAN. 4, 2012 Helicopters fight a massive forest fire affecting the commune of Ranquil, in southern Chile's Bio Bio region, 450 km (275 mi) south of Santiago.

26. FIGHTING THE BIO BIO WILDFIRES

27. IMPACTS: WILDFIRES IN BIO BIO REGION: JAN. 4, 2012 600 people were evacuated from the area 160 homes destroyed.

28. WILDFIRE IN ARAUCANIA REGION: JAN. 5, 2012 Seven firefighters died after being trapped by flames when the wind suddenly changed direction. They were part of a team trying to extinguish a blaze near Carahue in the Araucania region, about 700 km (434 miles) south of the capital Santiago.

29. ARAUCANIA WILDFIRE: JAN 5, 2012

30. Mapuche Indians blamed for starting the deadly wildfires

31. ARAUCANIA WILDFIRE: FALLEN FIREFIGHTER

32. 7 FALLEN FIREFIGHTERS

33. ELEMENTS OF HAZARDS AND RISK

34. HAZARDSHAZARDS ELEMENTS OF WILDFIRE RISK EXPOSUREEXPOSURE VULNERABILITYVULNERABILITY LOCATIONLOCATION RISKRISK

35. A DISASTER CAN HAPPEN WHEN THE POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS OF A WILDFIRE INTERACT WITH CHILE’S COMMUNITIES

36. A DISASTER is --- --- the set of failures that overwhelm the capability of a community to respond without external help when three continuums: 1) people, 2) community (i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and social constructs), and 3) complex events (e.g., wildfires, floods,…) intersect at a point in space and time.

37. Disasters are caused by s ingle- or multiple-event natural hazards that, (for various reasons), cause extreme levels of mortality, morbidity, homelessness, joblessness, economic losses, or environmental impacts.

38. THE REASONS ARE... When it does happen, the functions of the community’s buildings and infrastructure can be LOST.

39. THE REASONS ARE... The community is UN- PREPARED for what will likely happen, not to mention the low-probability of occurrence— high-probability of adverse consequences event.

40. THE REASONS ARE... The community has NO DISASTER PLANNING SCENARIO or WARNING SYSTEM in place as a strategic framework for early threat identification and coordinated local, national, regional, and international countermeasures.

41. THE REASONS ARE... The community LACKS THE CAPACITY TO RESPOND in a timely and effective manner to the full spectrum of expected and unexpected emergency situations.

42. THE REASONS ARE... The community is INEFFICIENT during recovery and reconstruction because it HAS NOT LEARNED from either the current experience or the cumulative prior experiences.

43. THE ALTERNATIVE TO A WILDFIRE DISASTER IS WILDFIRE DISASTER RESILIENCE

44. CHILE’SCOMMUNITIESCHILE’SCOMMUNITIES DATA BASES AND INFORMATION HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS WILDFIRE HAZARDS PEOPLE & BLDGS. VULNERABILITY LOCATION WILDFIRE RISK RISK ACCEPTABLE RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK GOAL: WILDFIRE DISASTER RESILIENCE PREPAREDNESS PROTECTION EARLY WARNING EMERGENCY RESPONSE RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION POLICY OPTIONS

45. MONITORING TECHNOLOGIES AND WARNING SYSTEMS ARE A VITAL PART OF SURVIVAL.

46. TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONITORING, FORECASTING, AND WARNING ARE VITAL FOR SURVIVAL.

47. THE FACTS: SURVIVORS OF A WILDFIRE HAVE TO START OVER

48. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION USUALLY MEANS STARTING OVER.