Peru has declared a 60-day state of emergency in 893 districts across 22 regions and the Constitutional Province of Callao as authorities prepare for potentially intense rainfall associated with El Niño.
The measure was established under Supreme Decree No. 124-2026-PCM, published Tuesday in the official gazette El Peruano, according to local media.
Areas covered by the declaration include districts in Piura, Tumbes, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Lima and Ica, among other regions.
The decision follows assessments by several national agencies, including Peru’s meteorological and hydrological service, disaster risk authorities, the National Civil Defense Institute and the commission responsible for monitoring El Niño.
Officials warned that continuing Coastal El Niño conditions, combined with the possible development of El Niño in the central equatorial Pacific, could increase the likelihood of exceptionally heavy rainfall.
The emergency designation gives regional and local governments greater scope to implement urgent measures to reduce disaster risks and undertake response and rehabilitation work over the next two months.
Peru’s National Civil Defense Institute will coordinate and monitor the measures alongside regional governments, municipalities and relevant national ministries.
Funding will come from the existing budgets of the agencies and authorities involved, with the decree providing no additional allocation from the national Treasury.
Authorities warned last week that approximately 1.2 million people could be at risk from El Niño-related conditions, particularly in communities vulnerable to flooding and landslides.
Northern Peru’s agricultural regions are considered particularly exposed because intense rainfall can inundate farmland, damage roads and other infrastructure, and trigger landslides.
El Niño is characterised by abnormal warming of waters in the tropical Pacific and can significantly alter weather patterns, historically bringing periods of intense rainfall and destructive flooding to parts of Peru.