#i have a massive headache from all the smoke but other than that im fine

[head---ache]

Hello, as many of you may know, I'm from Chile, and I want to share with you what's happening right now, and that has been happening every summer for as long as I can remember.

Every summer, as soon as December hits, we start to see impressively big forest fires, especially in the south of Chile, where there's the most vegetation to get burnt. As summer goes on, the fires start appearing all over the country.

These fires are widely believed to be started intentionally by real estate companies, to be able to build more houses, because these terrains aren't being sold to them because of the vegetation they possess, but after they're burnt, they are able to buy them, and build freely.

Today there are currently many fires happening in my region, in my city. This morning I just happened to visit the capital (Santiago) with my family, and on our way back home we saw three different fires.

My cousin wasn't able to return home from work, she'll have to look for somewhere to spend the night, on a different city. Some of my brother's friends had to evacuate their homes. Public transportation is not working right now. The streets are filled with infite traffic, of people having to evacuate their homes. Some of my friends' relatives lost their homes, and don't know if their pets are okay. There's so many people that got lost during the evacuations, especially children. And I don't even know when I will be able to post this, because I do not currently have access to internet, nor electricity, and up until recently, water was also unavailable.

I also need you to know that many of these fires happen in hills, where, usually, the most vulnerable people are situated. Many of the houses that are in danger started as tomas, and some of them still are. A 'toma' is the conquest or occupation by force of a square or city, and most of the times, these happen so that people who do not have a house, can build a house. These houses are built by these people, and are extremely vulnerable. This is who is in danger of losing all their efforts, their belongings, and the roof over their heads.

All of this to say, if you see someone from Chile asking for help, please do, in anyway you can. Due to the current events, they probably need it.

Hopefully I can post this soon.