Extreme Cold Kills 140 Peruvian Children

Unseasonably cold weather (3 months early) has caused well over 100 deaths. I blame global warming. Well, Al Gore would anyway.

Freezing temperatures on Peru’s southern Altiplano, where the arrival of below zero temperatures this year came as early as March — almost three months earlier than usual — as well as government inefficiency, critics say, have contributed to the death of 140 children aged 5 or younger so far this year.

According to a story at Accuweather (which probably won't be around long) 150 children have died.

150 Children have died in Peru as extreme cold plagues the nation.

An intense cold front has brought heavy snow, hail, strong winds and unusually low temperatures to southern Peru where the deaths of more than 150 children have been blamed on the cold conditions. According to the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA),the situation prompted the Peruvian government to declare a state of emergency in 21 regions or departments as they were formerly known of the country. There are 24 regions in total.

The prolonged exposure to the cold is causing hypothermia, acute respiratory infections, pneumonia, and deaths, mainly among young children. Aid for the region is needed urgently the greatest needs being blankets and warm clothes, as the cold continues to intensify especially at night.

Since late May, dozens of children have died in Peru due to cold related illnesses, as temperatures have dropped in some areas to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit). In response to the request of the provincial municipality of Carabaya, ADRA is distributing blankets and clothing kits for 500 affected families in the district of Crucero, in the Puno region, in southeastern Peru. Each family will receive three blankets and one clothing kit. The intervention will be coordinated with Peru's National Civil Defense Institute. The intervention, which began on June 29 and is expected to end July 10, is being implemented with funding from ADRA International, the ADRA South American Regional office located in Brasilia, Brazil, and ADRA Peru.

More than 13,600 cases of pneumonia have been reported so far this year. In the Puno region alone, 60,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and 933 cases of pneumonia have been reported. A total of 52 children under the age of five died from pneumonia, according tot a LIma based Newspaper.

Meteorologist Bob Tarr explains that there is a definite daytime warming pattern, however the nights remain extremely cold. The cold spell is set to last at least into early next week.