Peru under Water
The heavy rains have caused on going floods in Peru since December, however in the past few weeks Peru’s situation has seriously deteriorated, the floods triggered mud filled landslides (huaycos) throughout the country. El Niño was expected to hit Peru last year and there were no signs that showed it affecting the country this year. Without warning this severe weather has affected over 640,000 people, more than 70,000 people are now homeless, and 78+ people have lost their lives. The rains are expected to continue into April and Peru is currently under a State of Emergency until May 2017. Seeing the destruction with my own eyes was heartbreaking, I just hope that this country can recover back to its beautiful state.
I had no idea what to expect for my first rainy season, but I am beyond lucky that I live in the sierras. The months of non-stop rain are common for Sierra cities so much that you see the precautions just walking down the road. However, this year the coastal departments were hit with 10 times the amount of normal rain during rainy season. Unlike in the sierra, coastal cities don’t have the infrastructure to prepare them for the same amount of rain. This with the extra run-off rain coming from the mountains lead to horrific landslides all down the coast of Peru, mainly affecting the departments of Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, and provinces of Lima.
The past week I was in Trujillo, the regional capital of La Libertad, where I firsthand witnessed my first natural disaster. During the mornings and early afternoons were the only safe times to go out and grab supplies and food to hold you over for the night. Because of the flooding the roads were covered in mud and there was a layer of dirt everywhere possible (the air, the ground, throughout the hotel) led to most people wearing mask, myself included. One of the telltale signs it was late afternoon was receiving a call from a fellow volunteer saying huayco. Soon the roads I was rushing down to get back to the hotel were turned into rivers. Peace Corps chartered a plane to get the group of volunteers trapped in Trujillo to Lima, where my fellow Juniners and stayed in the airport until our flight to Jauja, Junín. One of the hardest parts about being back in site is seeing how unaware the people are about the conditions of other parts of their country. It feels so weird to go from being in a city that felt like a war zone to now being clueless about what is happening up north.
Sadly, because of the current devastation, all the volunteers in the northern departments (Piura, Lambayeque, and La Libertad) are being evacuated to the states. For the volunteers in my training group and the following will be in the states for at least 45 days while staff back here in Peru finds them new sites. However, the volunteers in group 25 from those departments are going home for good, cutting their service short by four months. In many of these situations, the volunteers were not able to pack up their belongings or say goodbye to their host families and friends in site because it was not safe.
To stay updated on the current situation of cities in Peru here is an interactive map from the Government of Peru.*
If you want to donate anything to help the recovery of Peru here are some sites:
*There currently is a red dot on Tarma, however being back has shown me how unaffected my site is. The main concerns for Junín are that the road to Lima, Carretera Central, has been heavily affected with huaycos since the beginning of February. This has closed the transportation of goods from Lima to my site which has slightly increased the price of food.