Is it Safe to Travel to Peru Since The Earthquake?
We've had several people wondering about the state of Peru and how it will affect their upcoming travel plans. Here is an update on the situation from Andrea Tello, our editor in Peru. Here is the latest:
The situation here was really bad after the earthquake because people were
looting aid convoys, desperate for food and water. You know, help usually
gets to the important, centric areas, whereas the 'pueblos jovenes' (poor
villages sorrounding cities) are the last ones to get any help and some of them
have not yet been reached (unfortunately, it is very likely that the death toll
increases as days go by).
The government sent more soldiers to the disaster areas to prevent this situation. To make things worse, at least 500 prisoners escaped from Ica's jail! Electricity has not been restored yet (as of Sunday) and there is cholera threat because of the poor health conditions (no toilets, no water, dust, etc.) It's horrible...there have also been 2 fatalities of people who were bitten by poisonous spiders while trying to recover some belongings under the debris. This area was already known for these deadly spiders who have killed people there before.
It is indeed safe to travel to Cusco and the Sacred Valley
and everything is operating normally in Lima. Flying through Lima is as
safe as usual and I would say there's no need to avoid Lima at the
moment. Unsafe places in Lima are not part of the tourist circuit; the
only affected areas were old neighbourhoods like Breña,
Rimac and others that are beyond the centre of Lima, and are dangerous to visit
anyway ...
Miraflores, Barranco, San Isidro have not been affected by
the earthquake...of course, there have been several aftershocks, but
sometimes not even perceivable...I would say don't visit the 'catacumbas'
(subterranean tombs) in the Centro de Lima, but at the end of the day, we
can't predict if there will be another earthquake!
So, the bottom line is that travelers should avoid the Ica-Pisco-Nazca route, but travels to Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu should be unaffected.
If you would like to make a donation to help the victims, please be cautious of the organizations you choose. Corruption is rampant and your money may not make it to its destination. You might consider making a donation to the Peruvian Embassy in the US:
Account Name:Embassy of Peru / Sismo Peru 2007
Account number: 389060178
Routing number: 021001088
Bank address: HSBC Bank, USA, NA 1130
Connecticut Avenue, NW. Washington, DC 20036
or sending a check to:
Embassy of Peru – Sismo Peru 2007 y enviarlos a:
Embassy of Peru, 1700 Massachusetts Ave., NW,
Washington, DC 20036
More info call (202) 833-9860.
Here are a few international organizations accepting donations specifically for Peru:
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