Friends and relatives of people currently on holiday in Peru, or people who are looking to travel to Peru in the next few weeks will no doubt have seen this morning's news with great concern. An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit the coast of Peru at 18:41 local time (23:41GMT), with four strong aftershocks following.
The epicentre of the earthquake was under the ocean floor about 90 miles south-east of Lima, of the coast of the town of Pisco. However, the greatest effects of the earthquake have been further inland around the city of Ica, where tragically there have been scores of deaths and hundreds of serious injuries.
Many holiday-makers pass through Ica on their way to either Nazca or to the desert oasis of Huacachina but we are pleased to say that currently none of our customers are in the affected area and we are in contact with everyone currently in Peru to reassure them and, where necessary, to make changes to their itinerary so that they remain unaffected.
We would like to stress for those of you with friends or family in Peru that the following popular destinations are unaffected by the quake: Lima, Arequipa, Colca, Puno, Titicaca, Cuzco, Trujillo, Huaraz, Iquitos, Mancora.
We will, of course, continue to monitor the situation and keep you up-to-date with the latest news - if you'd like to keep in touch then you can bookmark this page or subscribe to our RSS feed. RealPeru customers travelling in the next month have been automatically added to an email list and we will continue to update them as and when we get news.
UPDATE 17/08/07 AM - Anyone worried about friends or relatives in the affected area (the province of Ica, including: Ica city, Huacachina, Pisco, Nazca) who are not travelling with RealPeru can contact the Peruvian embassy here in the UK on 020 7235 1917. We STRESS that we have NO reports of injured tourists at the moment and it is now expected that we will not receive any as the casualty figures are stabilising. No RealPeru customers are currently in the province of Ica but people wishing to get in touch with RealPeru passengers should contact our Leeds office for further details.
UPDATE 17/08/07 PM - Our staff in Lima have driven through to Pisco and the roads are passable, albeit with difficulty; beyond Pisco the situation is still not clear. The death toll has risen sharply overnight and over 16,000 homes are estimated to have been destroyed but the national and international response is gathering pace and teams from the Red Cross, the EU and the UN are already on the ground assisting the Peruvian government. Obviously, anyone thinking of travelling to the area at the moment should change their plans to allow the relief work to begin. We are offering any customers due to visit the area in the next fortnight alternative arrangements and accommodation in unaffected parts of the country and continue to monitor the situation.
UPDATE 20/08/07 AM - The relief effort has moved up a gear and things are beginning to move past the immediate need for food and clean water, although thousands remain without regular and sufficient supplies of both, particularly in outlying areas. As a company we have delivered several thousand dollars-worth of tents, sleeping bags, food and water to Pisco, which remains the area worst-affected but it is clear that normal operations will not be resumed in Pisco or the Paracas peninsula for some time. Normal bus services are operating between Lima, Ica, Nazca and Arequipa, however, and we are hopeful that normal operations can resume in Ica shortly.