Pope consoles Peruvians hit by f looding

TRUJILLO, Peru — Pope Francis consoled Peruvians who lost their homes and livelihoods in devastating floods last year, telling them Saturday they can overcome all of life’s “storms” by coming together as a community and stamping out the violence that plagues this part of the country.

Francis travelled to a part of northern Peru frequently hit by “El Nino” storms and that was inundated in 2017 by flooding which killed more than 150 and destroyed thousands of homes.

At a seaside Mass for some 200,000 faithful, Francis said he wanted to come to the area to pray with those who lost everything and who must also contend with the “other storms that can hit these coasts, with devastating effects on the lives of the children of these lands.”

Extortion is common in northern Peru, especially around Trujillo and areas hardest hit by floods. Bus drivers who don’t pay often see their minibuses torched. The violence is so prevalent that Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa wrote about it in his novel “The Discreet Hero,” inspired by a Trujillo crime involving a businessman who resisted extortion.

In Trujillo the pope found a frustrated population hoping his visit can quicken the pace of reconstruction from the floods, the worst environmental disaster to strike Peru in nearly two decades.

Of the 200,000 homes that collapsed during last year’s storms only about 60 percent have been repaired, said Edwin Trujillo of the Peruvian Red Cross.

“People are furious because authorities haven’t done anything,” said Carlos Bocanegra, 60, a biologist from Trujillo.

Martin Mejia The Associated Press Pope Francis waves from his popemobile as he arrives Saturday to celebrate Mass on Huanchaco Beach, near Trujillo, Peru.