High risk yet home to thousands: the makeshift towns at the mercy of landslides and floods in Peru

Like many informal settlements, communities that have sprung up on the edges of Ayacucho in the Andes are on the frontline of extreme weather events

In December 2009, a late‑afternoon storm https://diariocorreo.pe/peru/diluvio-mata-a-diez-en-ayacucho-280031/">unleashed torrential rain over Ayacucho, in https://www.theguardian.com/world/peru">Peru, hitting poor hillside neighbourhoods hard.

The deluge overwhelmed drainage systems, turning streams into lethal flows of mud, stones and debris that flooded houses and streets and trapped drivers at a busy junction.

Ten people died, 18 were injured, and 530 houses were destroyed or damaged, according to https://sigrid.cenepred.gob.pe/docs/PARA%20PUBLICAR/INDECI/COMPENDIO%20ESTADISTICO%202006-2011/Compendio%20Estadisitico%202009.pdf">a government inquest. “It was a disaster,” recalls Edgar Castro, a leader in Ayacucho’s largest informal neighbourhood, Mollepata.