President of Peru, Dina Boluarte has declared a state of emergency in three regions of the country where a wave of forest fires has been spreading and destroying thousands of hectares of woodland.
The National Institute of Civil Defense has reported 34 active forest fires that have killed 16 people and left 140 injured since July.
The livestock sector was also reported to have lost 337 animals.
Mr. Boluarte noted that a major proportion of the more than 230 forest fires reported in recent days were human-caused, most likely by ancestral cultural traditions to prepare land for use and expand agricultural frontiers.
She stated that approximately 80% of these were “controlled,” but she urged rural communities to refrain from burning grasslands.
The three most affected regions are San Martin, Ucayali and Amazonas, where the president said it is difficult for aircraft to enter to put out the fires from the air due to the complicated atmospheric conditions.
The flames have charred more than 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres), and several communities across the country have run out of water in what experts call one of the worst droughts in more than a decade.
Boluarte stated that 20 tons of humanitarian goods have already been dispatched to Iquitos to alleviate a water scarcity caused by a lack of rainfall.
