Landslides kill at least 15 in Peru
A series of landslides in the southern region of Arequipa left at least 15 people dead, 20 injured and two missing on Monday. The victims already number in the thousands.
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AFP
“The number of people who have died so far is 15,” the National Civil Defense Institute said Monday in Arequipa, where the first mud and rockslides occurred on Sunday due to torrential rains.
The most affected area is the district of Nicolas Valcarcel, in the province of Camaná, west of Arequipa. Four localities in the district and the neighboring region of Rio Grande were particularly affected.
“The situation in these four villages is very unfavorable (…) both in Rio Grande and in Nicolas Valcarcel,” regional governor Rohel Sanchez told local television Canal N. He explained that there is a lot of activity. mining in the hills surrounding these villages. “We probably have people (and workers) there who couldn’t get out and were swept away by the mudslides,” added Rohel Sánchez.
The total number of victims in Arequipa is currently some 12,000 people, according to the same source. The landslides in Nicolas Valcarcel damaged 310 houses and destroyed 10 others, and also affected a health center and three rural roads, civil defense said. Authorities in Arequipa have asked the central government in Lima to declare a state of emergency for natural disasters in the region.
AFP
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