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El Niño threat: 323 Chiclayo buildings at risk of collapse, many still occupied
🇵🇪 Peru /Disasters & Emergencies

El Niño threat: 323 Chiclayo buildings at risk of collapse, many still occupied

From La República · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Chiclayo, Peru, faces a significant risk to 323 old or abandoned buildings that could collapse during intense rains from the El Niño phenomenon.
  • Approximately 40% of these at-risk structures are still occupied by families and businesses, increasing the potential for casualties.
  • Municipal authorities are struggling to locate owners and compel them to reinforce or demolish the hazardous buildings before the predicted heavy rainfall.

Chiclayo, Peru, is on high alert as 323 buildings in poor condition or abandoned are at risk of collapsing due to intense rains associated with the El Niño phenomenon. The municipal government warns that these structures, many of which are old mansions on main streets, could crumble under heavy precipitation, predicted for late 2026 and early 2027.

The situation is particularly concerning because about 40% of these vulnerable buildings remain occupied by families and businesses. This occupancy significantly raises the risk of human casualties should a collapse occur during severe weather. Jesús Yesquén Bances, head of Chiclayo's Civil Defense and Disaster Risk Management Center, highlighted that many of these buildings are in advanced states of decay, some nearly ruined.

There are properties whose owners have not been located, some because they reside abroad. Therefore, we have had to go to the Service of Tax Administration of Chiclayo (Satch), which has the taxpayer registry, to notify them. We are also coordinating with the Public Ministry on this. We are talking about many of these houses going to collapse totally due to the rains.

— Jesús Yesquén BancesExplaining the challenges in addressing the dilapidated buildings at risk from El Niño rains.

A major obstacle to addressing the danger is the difficulty in locating property owners. Some owners reside abroad, while others refuse to demolish their dilapidated properties. Municipal officials are coordinating with the Tax Administration Service of Chiclayo (Satch) and the Public Ministry to identify owners and issue notifications. Yesquén stressed that many of these houses are expected to collapse entirely from the rains.

Civil Defense is urging property owners to take immediate action to reinforce or demolish hazardous structures. Residents are also advised to remain vigilant and report any signs of deterioration. Authorities are working to expedite necessary interventions before the rainy season arrives, emphasizing that prevention is crucial to avoid tragedies, especially in areas with aging, structurally unsound buildings.

We are seeing the consumer changing behaviours, basically an acceleration of some of the behaviours we saw in the past.

— Jesús Yesquén BancesDescribing the advanced deterioration of many at-risk buildings.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La República in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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