Chile may be close to putting out raging forest fires that have devastated hundreds of thousands of hectares of forests and crops, President Michelle Bachelet said on Saturday.

In an address broadcast from the presidential headquarters, Bachelet said there were no significant new outbreaks "and the rest (of the fires) are mostly under control."

Chile's national disaster management agency (Onemi) reports the fires have claimed 11 lives, left 6,370 people homeless and destroyed 1,603 homes.

Bachelet also announced she was creating a new post to lead the reconstruction effort, naming the deputy minister of Public Works, Sergio Galilea, to be the new Coordinator of National Reconstruction.

Galilea "has all of my support to facilitate help to the homeless," said Bachelet.

source: Xinhua