LIMA, Peru (Reuters) --Peru appealed for international aid on Wednesday as it
scrambled to send food, medicine and blankets to southern regions where freak
cold temperatures have killed 59 people in what officials say is a harbinger of the
devastating El Nino weather phenomenon.

"Unfortunately, the number of people affected has risen to 66,000 and 59 people
have died, most of them children," President Alejandro Toledo said in a statement.

The government's civil defense department had different figures -- 22 dead and
70,781 people affected, including more than 17,500 homes hit -- but officials said
the fact that some regions were totally cut off made tallying victims difficult.

The killer chill began at the start of July and sent temperatures plunging to 10
Fahrenheit in the southern mountains, a rare phenomenon even at high altitudes in
the Southern Hemisphere winter.

"This is overtaking the government's aid and response capabilities, that is why we
have declared this an emergency zone and are appealing for help from the
international community," Civil Defense chief Juan Luis Podesta said.

The government declared a state of emergency across southern Peru -- parts of
which are blanketed in snow more than 3 feet deep -- meaning it can prioritize aid.

The worst affected areas this season include top tourist destinations like Puno, on
the shores of Lake Titicaca near Bolivia, and Cusco, gateway to the fabled Inca
citadel of Machu Picchu.

Podesta said Peru needed food, blankets, tents and medicines to treat people
suffering respiratory ailments and eyesight problems amid the intense glare of the
snow.

The cold spell has also put at risk the lives of a million llamas, alpacas and vicunas
-- a mainstay of the rural economy prized as beasts of burden and for their soft, fine
wool which is spun into high-quality cloth sold abroad at high prices.

Officials said some 80,000 of the animals that live at altitudes of 13,000 feet to
16,000 feet, have already died. Pasture land is buried under deep snow leaving them
with no food and exposed to pneumonia.

"It's about trying to save lives that are at risk in the next days and weeks," said
Health Minister Fernando Carbone.

Vice President Raul Diez Canseco said the government was considering parachuting
in aid parcels "as if we were at war."

Weather experts say the unusual cold is a clear indication of an impending El Nino
weather phenomenon, an abnormal warming of waters in the eastern Pacific that
occurs every four to five years and distorts wind and rainfall patterns.

The last El Nino, in 1997-98, unleashed global floods and drought and caused some
$3.5 billion damage in Peru.

    Copyright 2002 Reuters.