IGP: National tsunami alert system will take a year to install

A national tsunami alert system that Peru’s government is planning to purchase will take at least a year to install, according to the chief of Peru’s Geophysical Institute, or IGP.

“The most optimistic is one year because it is not a system that you can find on a shelf, you have to wait for it to be manufactured,” IGP President Ronald Woodman told state news agency Andina. “As well, at the same time we will begin to prepare the land for its installation which will take approximately three months.”

The tsunami alert system will include six seismometers installed throughout the country that will be able to measure and report seismic waves during an earthquake. Woodman said the instruments will communicate seismic events by satellite to determine the quakes epicenter and magnitude.

“It is an integral system that includes the seismometers, reflector stations, satellite communications stations and the service of a satellite,” Woodman said.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for Peru last Saturday after a massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake hit neighboring Chile. The epicenter of the quake occurred offshore about 200 miles south of Santiago. Chile’s government had said that more than 800 people were killed, but reduced that number to 279 on Friday, daily El Comercio reported.

Peru’s government was criticized for failing to purchase a tsunami alert system requested by the IGP after the magnitude-8 earthquake leveled the country’s southern coast in 2007. Cabinet Chief Javier Velásquez said this week the executive would authorize the transfer of 3 million soles, about $1.1 million, to the IGP to purchase the system.

President García announces national earthquake disaster prevention program

President Alan García launched a national program on Wednesday to develop an earthquake disaster prevention program in Peru following the magnitude-8.8 earthquake that hit neighboring Chile last Saturday.

García said engineers will conduct surveys of buildings at risk of collapsing during a powerful quake. The program will primarily focus on urban centers, including Peruvian capital Lima as well as Arequipa and Trujillo, state news agency Andina reported.

“We need all families to be sufficiently prepared to know what to do in the event of a large earthquake,” said García. “To know which are the safest places from a structural and anti-earthquake perspective, and to reinforce them. This won’t have a high cost but it will prepare us for any event.”

The epicenter of Saturday’s quake occurred offshore about 200 miles south of Santiago and 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second largest city where widespread looting has broken out. At least 800 people were killed and 2 million displaced. The Peruvian embassy in Chile said the displaced includes 1,003 Peruvians living in Chile.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for Chile and Peru after the earthquake and later extended it to other Pacific nations. The warning was canceled on Sunday.

The president of Peru’s Geophysical Institute, Ronald Woodman, told daily El Comercio that Peru’s current tsunami alert system is ineffective. He said the government approved financing to develop an alert system following the magnitude-8 earthquake that devastated Peru’s southern coast in 2007, however has still not provided the funds.

“In 2009, Congress’ Budget Commission understood the importance of this (tsunami) alert system and authorized the Ministry of Economy and Finance to transfer the funds to Peru’s Geophysical Institute to implement a tsunami alert system,” said Woodman. “The entire year passed and they have not provided the money and I don’t know why. They don’t give reasons.”

Seven killed by flooding in Cusco region

Seven people were killed Wednesday when heavy rainfall flooded the Quitamayo river in Pisac, a town located in the Sacred Valley in Peru’s southern Cusco department.

According to Radio Programas Peru, the people were employed by Construyendo Peru, a State-run national program which provides temporary work for the unemployed living in poverty.

The employees were cleaning the river banks when the Quitamayo – a tributary of the Vilcanota river – flooded and washed them away. The regional president of Cusco, Hugo Gonzáles, said the supervisors were negligent and the workers lacked proper protection. Read more…

Peru donates aid to Chile following magnitude 8.8 earthquake

Presidential Cabinet Chief Javier Velásquez said Monday Peru is planning to send three planes to transport health professionals and humanitarian aid to assist neighboring Chile following the massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck that country early Saturday morning. The planes will also be used to repatriate Peruvians living in Chile who have been displaced. Read more…

Machu Picchu to reopen on April 1

Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martín Pérez, said Tuesday Machu Picchu will reopen to tourists on Apr. 1, state news agency Andina reported.

Tourism activity to Machu Picchu was suspended last week following torrential rainfall, mudslides and flooding that blocked the railway to the UNESCO World Heritage Site and stranded some 2,000 tourists at Machu Picchu Pueblo – the town below the citadel. Read more…

Tourism Ministry announces campaign with private sector to promote tourism in Cusco

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism announced a campaign starting today to promote tourism in Cusco by providing tourists a 50 percent discount on flights, hotels and tourism packages.

The “Cusco Pone” campaign is aimed at increasing tourism to the former Inca capital and surrounding attractions until repairs to the railway to Machu Picchu are completed, the ministry said in a statement. Read more…

President García: Peru to provide $10 million for Haiti’s reconstruction

President Alan García said Tuesday Peru will contribute $10 million to help Haiti’s reconstruction effort after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation last January.

“Peru is able to contribute up to $10 million for the reconstruction of schools and (to establish) permanent drinking water in any areas that the president and the government of Haiti ask us to do so,” Radio Programas Peru quoted García as saying. He made the pledge for aid during the the Union of South American Nations, or Unasur, summit in Quito, Ecuador. Read more…

INC rejects proposal allowing tourists to visit Machu Picchu via helicopter

Peru’s National Institute of Culture, or INC, rejected a proposal that would allow tourists to access Machu Picchu by helicopter and suspended all tourism activity to the sacred Inca citadel until conditions in the area improve.

Meanwhile, PeruRail issued a communique late Monday saying that repairs to its train line from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes — the town below Machu Picchu — should be complete by the beginning of April.  Service to Aguas Calientes from the station at Piscacucho (where the trail head to the Inca Trail is located at Km82) is expected to be back up and running before the end of March.

“Helicopter operations that have been authorized and that are continuing are exclusively for providing supplies and services for the population in (Machu Picchu Pueblo),” daily El Comercio quoted an INC press release as saying. Read more…

Transportation Ministry: Machu Picchu will reopen to tourists in 3 weeks

Minister of Transportation and Communications Enrique Cornejo said Friday he expects Machu Picchu will reopen to tourists in three weeks following torrential rains, floods and mudslides last week that swept away parts of the railway into the sacred Inca citadel.

Cornejo told Radio Programas Peru tourists will be able to bypass blockages between Cusco and Machu Picchu by traveling part of the distance by road and the rest by train. He said they will establish two temporary bridges to help bypass the 10 obstructions that are currently blocking access to the citadel.

Machu Picchu’s only access route, besides hiking, is by train. The railway to the citadel was blocked last week when heavy rainfall, floods and mudslides battered Peru’s southern Andean region. Read more…

Lawmakers present bill to promote alternative access roads to Machu Picchu

Legislators from President Alan García’s ruling Aprista party presented a bill to congress on Tuesday to promote the construction of access roads as alternatives to train to arrive at Machu Picchu, Peru’s sacred Inca citadel and top tourist attraction. The legislation, which was presented to Congress by lawmaker Luis Wilson, promotes the construction of two access roads that could transport tourists to Machu Picchu if the railway is blocked, state news agency Andina reported. Read more…

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