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500 dead in strong quake in Peru

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-08-17 06:38

A man walks over the debris from a damaged wall in Lima's port of Callao,
after an earthquake struck Peru, August 15, 2007. A powerful earthquake
rattled Peru on Wednesday, killing at least?337 people and injuring
hundreds others as homes collapsed. [Reuters]
PISCO, Peru - Officials battled Thursday to help victims of a huge quake
which rocked Peru's southern tourist coast killing some 500, injuring
hundreds more, and leaving many feared trapped in the rubble.

"The toll has jumped to between 500 and 510 dead and 1,600 injured," the
head of the country's firefighter service, Roberto Ocno said by telephone
from the affected zone which was hit late Wednesday by a massive tremor.

"There are dead trapped under houses," he said. "There are several bodies
in the streets, people who may have died from heart attacks."

The US Geological Survey on Thursday upgraded the quake to a rare 8.0 on
the moment magnitude scale, as the Peruvian government said it was
launching an airlift with helicopters and planes to bring emergency aid
to the hard-hit coastal towns, cut off by the quake.

Two air force planes departed Lima at dawn bound for Ica, 300 kilometers
(186 miles) south of Lima, carrying 50 tons of aid including medicine and
food. And two national police helicopters loaded mainly with tents were
headed for the small port of Pisco and north to nearby Chincha.

Buildings collapsed, major highways to the coast were torn asunder and
power lines knocked out by the massive quake leaving overwhelmed local
officials issuing urgent appeals for help.

"We have hundreds of dead lying in the streets, and injured people in the
hospital. It is totally indescribable," said Juan Mendoza, the mayor of
Pisco.

"Seventy percent of the town is devastated," Mendoza said. "We don't have
water, no communications, the houses are collapsed, the churches are
destroyed," he said, adding his town of 130,000 urgently needed medical
help.

Many dead were still feared to be lying in the rubble of a church which
crumpled during evening Mass.

An AFP reporter saw dozens of corpses on a Pisco sidewalk covered with
blankets, as shocked survivors numbly surveyed the chaos wrought on the
small coastal town in just a matter of minutes.

It was the biggest earthquake to hit the South American nation in decades.

Health Minister Carlos Vallejos traveled overnight to Ica to survey the
damage. The government also sent a convoy of trucks to the region
carrying medical supplies, doctors and nurses but damaged highways were
hampering relief efforts.

The Peruvian Red Cross had sent an emergency team to the quake zone and
said the trip by road from Lima to Pisco took seven hours instead of the
usual two.

"The first impression of the team was of widespread devastation
especially among the houses," said Giorgio Ferrario, the international
Red Cross representative in Lima.

Foreign governments and aid groups launched relief efforts, with the
United States, Spain, France and Ecuador promising emergency assistance
and Bolivia saying it sent 12 tons of aid to the Pisco area.

The United Nations said it was ready to help and International Federation
of the Red Cross said two planes carrying tents, plastic covers, blankets
and water canisters would leave Panama City for Lima on Thursday.

Tens of thousands of panicked residents in the capital Lima had spent the
night on the streets fearing more tremors, after quake rattled the
country for two terrifying minutes Wednesday evening. A string of
aftershocks through Thursday morning kept nerves on edge.

The quake, with its epicenter just offshore from Ica province, struck at
6:41 pm (2341 GMT) on Wednesday, prompting evacuations along the Pacific
coast although the tsunami warning was later lifted.

The government declared its highest state of emergency and hospitals
around the country were put on high alert. The health ministry made an
emergency appeal for blood donations.

Peru has long lived in fear of a repeat of a 1970 earthquake that killed
70,000 people, many of whom perished in the mountain city of Huaraz which
was buried by a mudslide.

A 2001 earthquake in the southern Peruvian state of Arequipa killed 75
people and destroyed 25,000 homes.

The open-ended Richter Scale had put the quake at 7.7. The quake's
epicenter was offshore about 148 kilometers (92 miles) southwest of Lima
at a depth of 40 kilometers (25 miles), according to USGS.

On average there is one quake of magnitude 8.0 or higher each year,
according to the USGS, though in 2007 there have now been two: the
Solomon Islands was struck by an 8.1 magnitude quake in April, killing 54.

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