Video: Call for Aid in the Peruvian South due to Flooding · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

rio urubamba rage by Carlos Jose Rey of Living in Peru, used with permission
The state of emergency the city of Cusco in Peru and surrounding areas has moved many locals to make videos and upload them to the web, trying to get mass media to pay attention to the drama lived by villagers throughout the area who are now homeless, isolated and without food, water or electricity.
Oscarpucha uploaded a video he took of the train ride returning from Machu Picchu: the train he was in was the last one to depart from the sacred Inca city, before the rain, the rising river levels and mudslides made it impossible to get more people out of the Aguas Calientes village at the base of Machu Picchu and into Cusco.  In the video,  you can see the foaming river that even splashes passengers as they ride by.
Multimediantonio, who has also uploaded plenty of footage used in a regional Cusco television channel, shows us some of the damage caused to the inside of a few houses, where not only mud, but also raw sewage has covered the floors.
From Urubamba, a village near Cusco, Mamaderodriguin posts a video showing the overflowing river and explains how it wiped out a recently inaugurated beach promenade. The population is staying at a stadium for the meantime, but at the moment the video was made, they had no tents to sleep in, and with the constant rains these days and the rains that usually come during the month of February, they will need shelter. You can see this next video and others regarding the damages in Urubamba in his YouTube channel.
In this next video, Zenobio Valencia talks to Mayten Sanchez in Cusco discussing the amount of damage caused by the river in his neighboring village of Huacarpay in Lucre. In the case of his village, most of the houses are built traditionally out of adobe bricks and he esteems that about 98% of the houses are either lost or will crumble down in the next few days. In his plea for help he asks for blankets, non-perishable food items, water, items for personal hygiene as well as tents. Ms. Sanchez mentions that she personally is arranging for donation pickup as well as putting together a human team made up of a doctor, two nurses, a geologist and a civil engineer. He also provided images and pictures, which Mayten uploaded on her blog, telling the story of the vast damage caused by the river.
In Mayten's case, she is something of a pro at doing exactly this, and the following video shows how she helped in the 2007 earthquake in Chincha, Peru, arranging relief efforts during the aftermath such as teams of volunteers, doctors, nurses and teachers who helped build and run soup kitchens, temporary schools, houses, delivery of groceries to those who needed them, medical services and other such services, some of which are still running and which helped found the volunteer organization Mayten's House where they continue providing services to the Chincha community, long after the media has ceased to report on their situation after the earthquake.  Following is the video [en] telling the story of Mayten's House:
Mayten contacted us and asked us to please add the bank account information if you are interested in making donations to help the people in Cusco. Global Voices Online is in no way related to the Casa de Mayten efforts except in the hope that they can provide aid to the people in the Peruvian South.  If you have any questions regarding donations, please contact Mayten at lacasademayten@gmail.com and she can give you the information regarding the bank account.