Families from 12 Shawi native communities affected by floods along the basins of the rivers Paranapura and Cachiyacu in the district of Balsapuerto, Loreto have not received humanitarian assistance despite the food emergency they are facing.
Balsapuerto District Municipality has delivered humanitarian aid kits to the affected families of the Santa Rita, Nueva Esperanza and Bellavista native communities. Each kit consists of 5 kg of rice and sugar, sardine cans, 1 kg of pasta, 1 liter of oil, 10 liters of water and ½ kg of salt.
According to nutritionist, Anice Rimari, this food kit will only last an average of three days for a family of four.
In addition to the insufficient amount of food, Rimari said -according to the World Health Organization (WHO) – an adult requires an average of 1 to 3 liters of water and energy consumption of 2200 calories per day. While a child from 0 to 3 years requires 100 calories per weight. “Divided among all family members, 5 kg of rice represents less than half of what they should be consuming per day,” she said.
The CHIRAPAQ team visited the area and corroborated that the communities of Canoa Puerto, Nueva Luz, Puerto Libre, Buenos Aires, San Lorenzo, San José de Caballito, San Fernando, Nueva Chazuta, San Pedro, Tres Unidos, Uculiza and Nueva Alianza have not yet received aid despite losing much of their crops and now finding themselves on the brink of a food crisis.
The latest information from the National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI) indicates about 1077 people have been affected by floods in the Shawi native communities of the Balsapuerto district in the province of Alto Amazonas, Loreto. The report also identifies 238 homes and a school have been affected.
The most serious result of the flooding of the Cachiyacu River is the destruction of the cassava crops of the Shawi indigenous families. CHIRAPAQ’s team in the area is checking the damaged crops and estimating a shortage of food for the coming months.
A week after the disaster in Balsapuerto, another 17 communities were flooded in the Contamana district. In response, the government issued a supreme decree declaring it an emergency zone. However, it has not adopted a similar measure for the Shawi communities also impacted by flooding.
#EmergenciaShawi
CHIRAPAQ has launched a campaign to help Shawi families is Balsapuerto. Due to the geographical distance between Lima and Balsapuerto receiving clothes and food donation is not viable. However, the money collected will serve to bring food from the area to the impacted communities and supplies needed to preplace lost crops.
If you would like to support the Shawi families, please make a deposit of S/. 10.00 soles or more in the following bank account:
• Savings Account Scotiabank in soles 015-7410549
• Account Code Interbank transfers from other banks: 009-210-200157410549-66
• SWIFT Code for transfers from abroad: BSUDPEPL
After making the deposit, please contact us at ayllu@chirapaq.org.pe to corroborate the donation.
