LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Peru on Thursday declared a two-month state of emergency in nine of the country's 24 departments to combat the devastating El Nino weather phenomenon.

"The likelihood of the return of El Nino ... which has caused regrettable loss of life and huge economic losses, deserves government attention and urgent action ... to counter and minimize the effects of the weather phenomenon," the government said in a decree published in the official El Peruano newspaper.

The decree implemented the state of emergency in departments from the north to south of this Andean nation that are likely to be the hardest hit by El Nino-driven rains.

It gives the government authority to reduce damage by, for example, acquiring disaster relief equipment.

El Nino, which develops every four or five years due to unusually warm water in the Pacific and causes abnormal rainfall and winds worldwide, hammered Peru in 1997-98, killing 200 people and causing damage worth $3.5 billion.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced the arrival of El Nino, but says that this year's version will be much milder than that of 1997-98, which caused 24,000 deaths and damage worth $34 billion worldwide.

The Peruvian government said in the decree that the effects of El Nino would be felt here during the upcoming Austral summer, which runs roughly from December to March.

The government has said that a wave of unusually cold weather in July, which killed 59 people, is one sign that El Nino is on its way back.

"We have to be prepared for the effects of this year's EL Nino, which will be mild to moderate," Jorge Lerren, an official at the National Weather and Oceanic Service.

El Nino could also spell trouble for this Andean nation, which relies on fishing as its second biggest source of export income, as it struggles to get the economy going after a three-year slump.

President Alejandro Toledo is due to sign $150 million loan with the Inter-American Development Bank later this month to help it prepare for El Nino.

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