Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lima (Agenzia Fides) – Unusually low temperatures are registered all over the southern areas of Latin America. In Peru a state of emergency has been declared in 16 of the 25 regions into which the national territory is divided. Extreme cold has caused several deaths and major damage. The cold wave is characterised by temperatures as low as 23 degrees centigrade below zero in some parts of the southern region of Puno bordering on Bolivia.
The Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, has launched a campaign of solidarity to help needy brothers and sisters in the Andes region of southern Peru.
In a diocesan information note sent to Fides we read that the Archbishop is urging priests, religious and lay faithful in every parish in Lima to collect clothing and blankets in collaboration with Caritas Lima and the diocesan Charity Department, in view of aid distribution from the first week in August. “I ask all families to take part in the campaign to help brothers and sisters suffering from extreme cold in various parts of our country”, the Cardinal said.
The Lima archdiocesan Charity Department, which cooperates with Caritas, works to improve the quality of life of people living in conditions of extreme poverty or affected by natural disasters. Lima Charity Department operates in all the 118 parishes in the archdiocese.
According to the latest reports from the Epidemiology Department of Peru's Health Ministry this year at least 409 people have died of pneumonia associated with extremely low temperatures, most of the victims were children under five or elderly people over 60.
This year, in addition to the usual severe frost known as 'friaje' in the high plains of Peru, extremely low temperatures are registered in various regions of the Peruvian forest where the local people are unaccustomed to cold weather.
(CE) (Agenzia Fides, 27/07/2010)
