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El Niño in the News : 8 children die in Northern Peru due to high temperatures!

Fenómeno El Niño: 8 niños mueren en Piura por altas temperaturas

El Niño : 8 children die in Peru by high temperatures

It seems the effects of the El Niño phenomena has cause the death of eight children due to heat stroke. 

Click HERE to see the original story, in Spanish.

Below is the entire article translated into English.

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The high temperatures in northern Peru due to El Niño have killed at least eight children as a result of heat stroke, the regional director of Health of the Piura region, Jesus Juarez said.

Speaking to Canal N. Juarez said a tour of the pediatric emergency room of the regional hospitals allowed to meet the demand for these services was "well above what we usually have."

"There has been an unusual increase in children with high fever, diarrhea and in some cases seizures and, in turn, an unusual deaths increase," he said.

He explained that a team that reviewed the case found "that there were up to six related deaths" with these health problems and in other localities, two cases were reported.

The victims were less than two years old and lived in different towns in the region, he said. "Every day we get up to ten children with similar features, but they are getting the right treatment," he said.

Juarez said the Ministry of Health (MoH) has also sent a special team to take samples for the presence of cholera.

The official said that Piura reports "the third worst temperature of the last 50 years", only surpassed by those that were reported in 1983 and 1998, when also presented with El Niño.

The National Meteorology and Hydrology Service of Peru (Senamhi) reported that the temperature in Piura has reached in recent weeks peaks of 34 degrees Celsius and lows of 23 degrees Celsius.

Peruvian authorities said last year that El Niño would have an "extraordinary" impact on the country, although during the months, that forecast was reduced until it would be considered "moderate".

Although the rains are common in the Andean and jungle region of the country during these months, since December there was a drought that was considered, by experts, a consequence of erratic weather caused by El Niño and only in the last week they unleashed torrential rains.

Rains and flooding also left at least two dead last Saturday, and one missing in the Apurimac region, while in the region of Lima other sectors of the Central Road had to be closed by the overflowing Rimac River.

The government ordered the installation of an air lift to the central city of Jauja, which on Wednesday allowed dozens of people, including seniors, children and others with special needs, to be transferred to Lima.

Source: EFE

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