Peru mudslides

The Canadian media articles on the Machu Picchu mud slides are finally starting to acknowledge the hardships Peruvians are enduring during this year's rainy season. In particular the deaths in the Machu Picchu area are finally being acknowledged - I hesitate to call it reporting as the media information is so sketchy. Rescuing tourists by helicopter is valiant and a good move by the government of Peru to protect its reputation among tourists and try to protect an important source of income for many Peruvians who make a living from tourism.

Yet, these floods and mudslides are making life tenuous for Peruvians in much more immediate ways: "An estimated 25,000 people have been left homeless and another 37,000 have lost at least part of their property in the past two weeks." according to genevalunch.com. Link to Peruvian Times for more details.

I suppose we'd not hear about this at all if it were not for some Canadians among the evacuees.