Cochabamba, Bolivia - Authorities in Peru and Bolivia declared a state of emergency on Tuesday due to massive flooding affecting both Andean countries.

In Bolivia, three people died and almost 7,000 were left homeless by the strong rains hitting the country for the past weeks.

One of the victims died in Cochabamba and the other two in Tarija.

Six of the nine Bolivian administrative regions have been affected and the Bolivian government has released a special 20 (m) million US dollar aid package for the victims.


Rivers burst their banks in the regions of Cochabamba, La Paz, Santa Cruz, Tarija, Chuquisaca and Pando, flooding farming lands and residential areas.

The always precarious Bolivian roads were damaged heavily at many points due to mudslides and floods and all aid delivery was being done by helicopter.

In neighbouring Peru, the south-eastern region was worst hit by the rainy season.

The rains that normally starts on January have left the region of Ayacucho - 330 kilometres (205 miles) south east of Lima - with 3,610 people homeless , 15 bridges washed away by the rivers, another 7 seriously damaged and almost 300 kilometres (186 miles) of roads with severe infrastructural problems.

"Between January and February, 3,610 people in the Ayacucho region have been affected by these floods and by affected I mean they lost their homes and they need shelters, clothes and food, "said Luis Palomino, President of the Civil Defence Institute, speaking in Lima on Wednesday.

The regions of Puno, Arequipa and Apurimac are also on alert due the strong rains.