At least 20 children dead in Peru in intense winter cold spell

LIMA (AFP) Jul 13, 2003
At least 20 children have died in a winter cold spell that has hit Peru's southeastern Carabaya province, a local official said Sunday.

Entire families have been affected by the freezing conditions that have seen thermometers drop to minus-23 degrees Celsius (minus-nine degrees Fahrenheit), city official Alberto Quinonez said.

Quinonez called on the central government to send medicine, food, shelters, fuel and, with lakes currently frozen over, water also, as well as fodder for livestock.

People living at between 4,600 and 5,000 meters (15,100 to 16,400 feet) are among the worst-affected, he said. The weather is among the coldest seen in the Puno region since the 1962 levels of minus-30 degrees.

TERRA.WIRE