OCHA Situation Report No. 2
Peru - Earthquake
24 June 2001


Situation

1.  Most affected areas are Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna: 52 dead
(Arequipa, 21; Moquegua ,16; Tacna 9, Camana, 6), 544 wounded and 10
missing. Thousands have been affected and left without shelter.

2.  Water, electricity, and telephone services have been interrupted
(fifty percent of the national telephone capacity has been restricted in
order to partially restore telephone services in the affected areas;
hospitals electricity is supplied with generators).  The fiber optic
connection between Lima and Arequipa has been destroyed. Debris has
blocked the Panamerican Highway. The bridge connecting the Departments of
Moquegua and Tacna has collapsed. Giant waves caused serious damage to the
ports of Camana and Chala in the Department of Arequipa.

3.  Eighty percent of the housing in Moquegua, mostly of adobe
construction, is reported to be seriously damaged and uninhabitable. In
Arequipa an undetermined number of houses have been left without roofs or
walls and its principle historic monuments, including the cathedral in
Arequipa, have been seriously damaged.  In Tacna, around 1,000 houses are
estimated to have been destroyed.


National Response

4.  The President of Peru has established a Command Centre in Arequipa to
coordinate emergency operations. He has also announced that a state of
emergency will be declared for the affected areas, as well as the
assignment of necessary national resources to respond to emergency
requirements.

5.  Doctors and medical technicians from Lima have been mobilized to the
affected areas. All relief institutions, e.g. Civil Defence, national Red
Cross and NGOs are participating fully in rescue operations and delivery
of relief supplies.

6.  So far, two Hercules aircraft have been dispatched transporting relief
supplies (e.g. water, chlorine tablets, medical equipment, blankets,
tents, canned foods). The Mayor of Arequipa has requested assistance from
the National Government for a program for the recovery of the city.  He
has further requested additional medical supplies, tents and blankets for
the people forced to sleep in the streets. The Mayor of Moquegua has
requested the Government to provide heavy earth moving machinery.


Request for International Assistance

7.  So far, the Government has not requested international assistance. The
result of ongoing assessments has to be awaited.

8.  At this stage, the Pan American Health Organization reports that there
is no need for medical supplies and that the infrastructure of health
services has in some cases suffered some structural damage but continues
to function with the use of emergency generators and water reserves. Due
to strutural damage, the hospital Goyeneche in Arequipa had to be
partially evacuated.


Coordination

9.  The mobilized UNDAC team is supporting the United Nations Resident
Coordinator: participation in field assessments and in the management of
the flow of information between the authorities and the UN Agencies.


Contributions

10.  OCHA has received preliminary information about the following
assistance:

- The Government of Belgium: emergency assistance amounting to 3,700,000
Euros (approx. USD 3.1 million).

- The Government of Spain: immediate relief assistance (no value
indicated).

- The Spanish Red Cross: 5,000,000 pesetas (approx. USD 25,000) to the
Peruvian Red Cross. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies is dispatching an emergency response team to assess
damage.

- In consultation with Civil Defence, the United Nations Resident
Coordinator is dispatching a disaster management expert to assess the
extent of infrastructural damage to housing and communal services such as
hospitals, health posts, schools, etc.


11.  This Situation Report and further information on ongoing emergencies
are also available on the OCHA website at http://www.reliefweb.int


Telephone: +41-22-91712 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers (OCHA Disaster Response Branch):
  Mr. Erik Haegglund / Mr. Carlos Pereira / Ms. Masayo Kondo
  Direct tel: +41-22-917 32 99/13 83/19 97

Press contact:
  Ms. M. Moulin-Acedo, direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53


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