Peru, US, Chile stage large-scale El Niño disaster exercise; 40% of country in emergency

Peru, the US, and Chile are conducting a large-scale joint exercise involving over 5,700 personnel, 26 ships, two submarines, and 21 aircraft, focused on disaster response to El Niño. The exercise comes as 40% of Peru is reportedly in a state of emergency due to El Niño impacts. This marks a significant multinational military-to-civilian coordination effort, though the operational scope and readiness implications remain to be seen.