Basic items and medicine needed to help earthquake victims in Peru: UN

The Government of Peru urgently needs blankets, food, medicines and water purification units to help victims of last weekend's earthquake in the southern part of the country, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today in New York.

The Government has also requested the assistance of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in assessing damage to education infrastructure in the affected area.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which has issued an appeal for more than $600,000 to reduce the health consequences of the earthquake, is assisting the Government in assessing the damage to health facilities.

Meanwhile engineers from the Pan American Centre for Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Sciences, located in Lima, have been in the affected areas assessing the damage to hospitals and other health facilities, OCHA said.