Food and water will be delivered to thousands in need. Please pray for people affected by this natural disaster.
Samaritan’s Purse, working through local partners, is providing emergency relief to thousands of Peruvians affected by flooding in their South American nation.
We are helping local partners provide food and water to approximately 5,000 individuals displaced by prolonged flooding in the provinces of La Libertad and Ancash in northwest coastal Peru. Medical care also will be offered in some of the La Libertad communities.
Flood waters and mudslides have caused more than 90 deaths and destroyed more than 70,000 homes. Crops and roads have been destroyed as well, cutting off access to food and clean water. More than 500,000 people have been affected by the unusual torrential rainfall—a “coastal El Nino”—that preceded the start of Peru’s rainy season in March.
Peru’s north has been enduring heavy rains since late January. In February, the central government declared a state of emergency in three northern regions.
“We’ve been monitoring the situation, and the flooding has really gotten worse over the last month, in some areas the worst flooding in a couple of decades,” said Jason Edgerton, Samaritan’s Purse regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Continue to pray for those affected by the situation because rains are expected to continue for the next 30 days, which will make the situation that much worse,” he said. “Pray also for our local partners as they distribute aid to help those affected by the flooding.”