Comment on Mudslide buries Peruvian village, leaving little to claim

By FRANKLIN BRICENO, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle: World
Sat, 03/25/2017 - 1:56pm

Mudslide buries Peruvian village, leaving little to claim

BARBABLANCA, Peru (AP) — Gathered along the edge of a mountain, the men, women and children of Barbablanca watched in stunned silence as a river of mud washed over their small village. The rains pummeling Peru, brought about by a warming of Pacific Ocean waters that climatologists are calling a "coastal El Nino," have left 85 dead, crippled the nation's infrastructure, ruined thousands of fields of crops and destroyed 800 villages, most much like Barbablanca. Situated at the foot of the Andes 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the capital city of Lima, Barbablanca is a community of 160 people, many of whom are small farmers dedicated to growing the sweet, heart-shaped cherimoya. Life in Barbablanca revolves around the crops, a red schoolhouse, a medical clinic and a hydroelectric plant at the base of a giant mountain. On cellphone cameras, Peruvians have captured video of sudden gushes of water, mud and debris that swept up trucks, buses, people and cows. Another two weeks of rain are forecast and the state meteorological agency expects the ocean warming causing the storms to continue through April. The Peruvian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced the launch of an emergency appeal Saturday for $4 million to support 50,000 people in the hardest hit regions in northern Peru.

 

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