The magnitude 7.2 earthquake that occurred on Thursday, August 20, once again brought to the forefront a question that Peru can no longer postpone: how prepared are our schools to face a larger magnitude earthquake?
Most work environments use AI in some form; that is nothing new. According to McKinsey, 88% of employees regularly use AI in at least one business function. But the challenge of the equation is the discipline surrounding that use.
The earth shook again near our country. This time it was our Colombian brothers who felt it, and it is inevitable to ask ourselves the question we always avoid in our capital with some resignation: are we truly prepared for the great earthquake we have been expecting? As an architect and urban planner, the objective answer is forceful and painful: no, we are not. And the problem does not lie solely in the instability of some soils or the quality of our constructions, but in a much deeper and silent vulnerability: the lack of seismic memory and the cultural disconnection with prevention.
In times when the country is once again debating the direction Peru should take, it is hopeful that children, young people, the elderly, and the most vulnerable families are once again taking a central place on the public agenda. For too long, many of their needs were sidelined by the political situation. Today there is a new opportunity to remember that the true development of a country only makes sense when it improves the lives of those who need it most.
Peru does not start to lose when disaster strikes. It starts to lose much earlier, when a public work is designed only to be inaugurated and not to continue functioning when it is most needed. Disaster does not create that vulnerability; it only reveals it.
Tourism in Peru does not have a supply problem, but a management problem. We have a millenary history, abundant nature, a very high-quality service, and world-renowned gastronomy. However, as an industry, we are still about 30% behind our pre-pandemic levels, while countries like Chile, Brazil, or Colombia have already surpassed them. In other words, other markets in the region are growing steadily and have already surpassed historical records.
In Peru, where political instability and institutional precariousness have been constant, continuity and excellence in public management are exceptions that deserve to be highlighted. The career of Julio Velarde at the head of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP) is, without a doubt, one of them.