Flood waters and mudslides are ripping through Peru taking dozens of lives, destroying livelihoods, and wiping out homes.
“The situation is getting worse. They declared the country in emergency, and the government is predicting that the rains will continue,” says Leoncio Choquehuanca, director of projects with Asociacion Cristiana Evangelica Para el Desarrollo (ACED), a Samaritan’s Purse Canada partner in Peru that provides support to local churches. Samaritan’s Purse Canada is partnering with this association to help provide families with practical relief and spiritual support.
“This month of March will be very critical,” says Choquehuanca. “We need help. The number of victims has increased, and there are more than 70,000 destroyed houses.”
The northern regions of Peru have been enduring heavy rains since late January. In February, the central government declared a state of emergency in three northern regions in Peru.
There is also a sanitary emergency due to the threat of deadly diseases—such as dengue, cholera, malaria and others—that often accompanies such flooding.
Samaritan’s Purse is helping to provide food, tools and materials to repair homes through the local partner while also sharing the hope of Christ.
We are now providing aid to more than 450 families in the areas most impacted by flooding in the region of Piura, and now the local church is hoping to provide additional assistance to families in dire need with the support of Samaritan’s Purse Canada.
“Additional funding for Peru will support more than 600 families with food baskets, materials to help repair homes, temporary shelters, tools for repairs and mosquito nets in the same region as before, but in a different province,” says Carolina Zuleta-Sanchez, the project manager for Latin America and the Caribbean with Samaritan’s Purse Canada.
Peru and the neighboring countries experiencing heavy rainfall remain in a desperate situation that requires prayer intervention and practical help as the local church reaches out to provide hope and healing in the name of Jesus Christ.
Samaritan's Purse responds to humanitarian crises with physical aid and a message of spiritual hope for victims of natural disasters, famine, poverty, and war. Your gift will allow us to share Jesus' love through clean water, food, shelter, medical supplies, personnel, and other aid.