Peru earthquake kills over 400 Bodies in the streets

Peruvians pulled hundreds of dead and wounded from the rubble of homes and churches yesterday and some gathered them on street corners after a massive earthquake ravaged the country's central coast.

Over 400 people were killed in the 8.0-magnitude quake on Wednesday night, the president's chief of staff said.

As rescuers scrambled through the debris in search of survivors, dazed residents guarded bodies in the street, not sure where to take them.

"We don't know what to do. I don't know where to hold a wake for her ... The wall just came down and crushed her when I was outside," Jose Flores, a boy about 12 years old, said as he stood near the body of his dead mother on the sidewalk outside their destroyed adobe home in the city of Chincha.

The US Geological Survey upgraded the quake's magnitude to 8.0 from an earlier 7.9 measurement, and powerful aftershocks rattled the country yesterday morning.

Many mud-brick houses crumbled, residents placed the bodies of relatives and neighbors on street corners and hospitals were overwhelmed with injured in Chincha and the nearby city of Pisco.

On the road into Chincha, which lies 200 km south of the capital Lima and is home to some 170,000 people, fuel tanks and merchandise were spilled onto highways where trucks had turned over when the quake buckled the pavement.

Wounded people lay on the floor in Chincha's San Jose hospital, where walls were destroyed by the quake, Reuters reporters said.

"A wall fell on her. There are no beds and they can't give her a bed until they can X-ray her, but there's no power," Hernando Rodriguez told a Peruvian television station as he sat with his daughter in the hospital, hoping she could be moved to Lima.

Hundreds of prisoners ran out of Chincha's Tambo de Mora prison, an old building that collapsed during the earthquake.

"The authorities couldn't do anything. It was really hard to control all the prisoners," Manuel Aguilar, vice president of Peru's prison authority, said. He said 29 prisoners stayed behind.

In the San Juan de Dios hospital in Pisco, doctor Ricardo Cabrera said staff was struggling to cope with 200 wounded and more than 40 dead, with no power and a large part of the hospital damaged.

He said there was no morgue in the city and bodies were being gathered in the main square and on street corners.

"There are a lot of bodies still in the rubble," Dr Cabrera told RPP radio, calling for blood, bandages and medicines.

Many people were forced to sleep outside in cities devastated by the huge tremor, which cracked highways and cut power and telephone lines.

"The first impression of the team is that damage is severe, especially to houses," said Giorgio Ferrario, the South America representative for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"We know for the moment, according to local authorities, that at least 35O people are dead, but the toll will certainly rise as search and rescue operations continue," he said.

A fire department official said at least four people were trapped when the main tower of the Senor de Luren church in the city of Ica, home to some 120,000 people, was toppled.

The USGS said the quake on Wednesday was centred about 145 km southeast of Lima at a depth of around 40 km and was closely followed by nine aftershocks.

In Lima, people felt two waves that lasted around 20 seconds each.

Earthquakes measuring more than seven magnitude often result in fatalities. The Andes region has many active fault lines.

Meanwhile Pope Benedict offered prayers yesterday for the victims of Peru's earthquake and called for immediate assistance for the hundreds of people who were injured or made homeless.

"(The Pope) encourages institutions and people of goodwill to offer the necessary help to those harmed, with a spirit of Christian solidarity and charity," the Vatican said in a telegram, signed by Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that there were no Maltese among the dead and injured.

Those who have relatives in Peru and would like further information can call the ministry's duty officer on 7949 6382.