Aerial picture showing the destruction path left by a mudslide caused by heavy rains in Camaná Province, west of Arequipa, in southern Peru, on February 8, 2023. AFPPIX: Carmen Manchego looks down at the remnants of homes sticking out of the quagmire of mud that engulfed the Peruvian mining town of Pampaylima.Torrential rain late last week in Mariano Valcarel district of the southwestern Arequipa region provoked a mudslide on the San Martin mountain.
The suspension of mining activity, coupled with the economic losses caused by the disaster, will have massive consequences on the locals. That journey has to be taken on foot because part of the path linking the two towns has been destroyed by a landslide.According to authorities, the mudslide damaged 40 percent of the electricity grid in Valcarcel and more than 500 homes have been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable.“We are sleeping in tents brought by the Civil Defense and we’re eating in the canteen where help is being delivered,“ said Manchego.