Peruvian officials send 7.5 tonnes of aid to earthquake-hit Arequipa

Record ID: 90758

  • Title: Peruvian officials send 7.5 tonnes of aid to earthquake-hit Arequipa
  • Date: 15th August 2016
  • Summary: LIMA, PERU (AUGUST 15, 2016) (REUTERS) PERUVIAN AIR FORCE TRANSPORT PLANE "HERCULES" FOOD AID ON LOADING DOCK VARIOUS OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CIVIL DEFENCE (INDECI) WORKERS CARRYING AID INTO PLANE CLOSE-UP OF WORKER SETTING AID INTO POSITION VARIOUS OF FOOD AID COLONEL MARCIAL GARCIA, ADVISOR OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CIVIL DEFENCE (INDECI), GIVING INSTRUCTIONS (SOUNDBITE)
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2016 19:20
  • Keywords: Peru Lima Lima aid earthquake earthquake aid Peru earthquake Peru earthquake aid aid delivery disaster
  • Location: LIMA, PERU
  • City: LIMA, PERU
  • Country: Peru
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014V8NM83
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Officials in the Peruvian capital of Lima sent 7.5 tonnes of aid and other supplies on Monday (August 15) to the earthquake-hit region of Arequipa.
    A 5.3 magnitude shallow earthquake killed at least four people and injured more than two dozen when it rocked the copper-producing region late on Sunday, authorities said.
    The quake was 8 kilometres (5 miles) deep in the Caylloma province of the Andean region Arequipa and aftershocks continued to shake the region on Monday, the Geophysical Institute of Peru said. The USGS reported the earthquake as having a 5.4 magnitude.
    Workers with the National Insitute of Civil Defence (INDECI) were loading an air force transport plane with aid, which mostly consisted of food.
    "Yesterday there was an earthquake of 5.3 magnitude in the province of Caylloma (Arequipa). There are apparently four deaths and we are sending 7.5 tonnes of aid that consists of rice, sugar, oil, pasta, cans," Colonel Marcial Garcia, an INDECI advisor, told Reuters.
    The Caylloma province is home to Peru's Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world and a popular draw for trekkers.
    A 66-year-old U.S. man was among four confirmed casualties, the National Civil Defense Institute said. Preliminary reports from affected areas indicated eight people may have been killed as dozens of homes collapsed in three towns, Arequipa Governor Yamilia Osorio said on local broadcaster RPP.
    Phone lines and electrical service were down and roads were blocked by landslides, provincial Mayor Romulo Tinta said on RPP on Monday.
    Southern Copper Corp said its two copper mines and smelter in Arequipa were unaffected by the quake. Representatives of Freeport McMoRan Inc's Cerro Verde copper mine in Arequipa could not immediately be reached for comment.
    Vice President Martin Vizcarra traveled to Caylloma to oversee the distribution of humanitarian aid, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on Twitter.
    The quake struck a day before the ninth anniversary of a 2007 earthquake in Peru that killed hundreds in the region of Ica.
    Many homes in Peru are built with precarious materials such as adobe that cannot withstand earthquakes.
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