An estimated 80,000-100,000 Peruvians live and work in Chile--the largest immigrant group in the country. Because Chile has one of the most prosperous and stable economies in Latin America, Peruvians seek opportunities there, often cleaning houses or streets.
You can see, then, why the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that shook central Chile last week had a very real and personal aftershock in Peru.
President Alan Garcia went to Chile this week, in part to bring humanitarian aid, but also in part to help the more than one thousand Peruvians left homeless. Because they didn't have family nearby to take them in, Peruvians are many of those living on the streets after the earthquake (see 30-second TV Chile clip).
Around 160 people without homes were brought back to Lima within the past few days, reunited with their families.
But some did not come out alive. One 25-year-old Peruvian mother and her daughter were lost in the quake.
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