Puno (Peru) - (AFP) - Drought in the Peruvian Andes wiped out herds of alpacas and potato crops, forcing the government to declare a state of emergency Saturday for 60 days in more than 100 regions.

Rural communities in the provinces of Arequipa and Puno in southern Peru were the worst affected, as the government declared a state of emergency "due to the imminent threat of water shortage".

The National Weather Service (Cinami) described the drought as one of the worst droughts to hit the country in half a century, exacerbated by El Niña, a periodic natural phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean that cools the atmosphere.

"November 2022 was one of the driest months in the past 58 years in the Andes region," Sinami reported.

Indigenous groups in small Andean villages have suffered heavy losses of crops and herds of livestock.

"Because of the lack of feed and water, the alpacas are dying. My alpaca has died," Isabel Bellido, an alpaca keeper, told AFP from her mountain home in Lagunillas, near Puno, the provincial capital, at an altitude of 4,200 meters in some elevations, 850 km southeast of Lima. .

For his part, Carlos Pacheco, a veterinarian and expert on llamas and alpacas, said the worst-case scenario would be a continuation of the drought.

"The animals are already underweight and there is no pasture," he said.

At high altitudes in the Andes, temperatures can drop to -20 degrees Celsius and cause mass deaths of sheep and alpacas that are vital to the survival of small mountain villages.

In the winter of 2015, 170,000 alpacas died due to extreme cold and drought in Peru.

According to local press reports, hundreds of baby alpacas and lambs have died this year.

The shallow lakes have dried up and only sporadic pools remain, as is the case of Pariouanas Lake near Lagunillas.

In neighboring Santa Lucia, Lake Colpacocha has completely disappeared leaving only a cracked mud bottom.

Near Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable inland sea with an elevation of 3,812 metres, the villagers of Echo appeal to a higher authority to end the drought... They take away a statue of the "Our Lady of the Clouds," a figure highly venerated by Catholics in Peru and Ecuador, They parade across the fields for the first time in years, praying them to bring rain.

"We planted our crops in the usual way, but the potatoes don't germinate because of the extreme heat. It's worrying," said Daniel Kkama, a prominent figure in Ichu.

Praying to Christ, the participants in the procession chanted, "Let the rain fall. Do not punish us, Father."