SANTIAGO, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Chilean government offered support to Brazil on Thursday to help battle the forest fires in the Amazon.
"We have the experience, we have very good technicians, professionals and forest guards, and we have to be very supportive with a country that is going through a bad moment," Chilean Minister of Agriculture Antonio Walker told the press.
The official added that "he is in contact" with his Brazilian counterpart Tereza Cristina Dias to show Chile's disposition on collaborating to extinguish the fires that began to consume the Amazon more than two weeks ago.
The emergency has transcended Brazil's borders, and fires have reached Peruvian, Paraguayan and Bolivian regions.
As of Aug. 18, 71,497 fires had been registered in Brazil, 82 percent more than the figure in the same period of 2018, when 39,194 fires were recorded, according to official data.
