Normal to above-normal rains are reported in May in the northeastern areas of the country, following torrential rains and flooding in April in various parts with significant damage to housing and infrastructure and an increasing number of casualties. Landslides causing significant damage to the agricultural sector have also been reported in numerous locations. In the inland regions of the country, such as in the Amazonian rainforest areas, the indigenous population have lost large parts of their subsistence crops (cassava, maize, banana) as a consequence of the heavy floods, while in the department of Puno, the population in the highlands have suffered severe losses in their subsistence potato crops because of drought. An overall assessment of damages caused by El Ni�o is being conducted by the Government. In the important paddy growing fields of the northern coastal areas, the volume collected in the first three months is nearly 20 percent less than the amount collected by the same time the year before. Harvesting of the wheat and yellow maize crops is also lagging behind the results obtained in the previous year. In aggregate, cereal output is forecast to decline from 1997 above-average levels but, with the exception of paddy, should remain about average.