LISBON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The families of the 114 people who died from wildfires in Portugal in 2017 are to receive a total of 31 million euros (38 million U.S. dollars) in indemnity payments, Portugal's Ombudsman announced on Tuesday.
Claimants will receive at least 150,00 euros, broken down as 80,000 euros compensation for the death itself and 70,000 euros for suffering caused.
There are further add-ons related to personal injury and property damage.
The largest single payment amounted to 300,000 euros and went to an unnamed female who was left not only orphaned, but without any close relatives.
Compensation amounts will be paid to each victim's next of kin, and shared out in the case of a group. In total, 301 applications were received, with 289 having already been processed.
"So far we have had no cause to reject a single claim for compensation," Maria Lucia Amaral, Portugal's Ombudsman, told a Lisbon press conference.
Applications related to an official death toll of 114, of which 109 were direct victims of the fires.
Payments were higher than those usually paid out for such incidents in Portugal. "What happened was unique given the extreme violence," said Amaral by way of explanation.
The Ombudsman's office will now move on to processing compensation claims for injury. As with the death indemnities, payments relate to wildfires that raged in Portugal on June 17 and 24 and Oct. 15 and 16 last year.
