Peruvians Sob for Relatives Lost in Quake

CBNNews.com

August 17, 2007

CBNNews.com - Rescuers in Peru scrambled through rubble for survivors as relatives search lines of body bags for loved ones, in the aftermath of one of the world's most powerful quakes.

More than 500 are dead and thousands more are injured in Peru, after the 8.0 quake struck the country Wednesday evening.

Rescue workers are pulling out more dead from crumbled buildings. Families searched through the lines of dead bodies, looking for the familiar face of a relative. At least one American died in the quake, the State Department reported.

CBN's Operation Blessing is already at the earthquake zone delivering emergency supplies. Aid worker Jordan Durso, spoke with CWN by phone from the disaster area about the first stage in the OB effort. Click Play to hear more from Durso, following this report.

Hundreds of quake victims were killed during church services. Churches were packed when the quake struck because Roman Catholics traditionally celebrate August 15 as the day when the Virgin Mary rose to heaven.

In the port city of Pisco, at least 60 bodies were pulled from the devastated San Clemente Church. Doctors worked to help more than 1,500 injured, including hundreds who waited on cots in the open air.

As the quake struck, the church's ceiling broke apart, collapsing on those inside. The shaking, which lasted for nearly two minutes, buried about 200 people, the town's mayor said. By Thursday, only two stone columns and the church's dome rose were left intact.

Several searching for loved ones sobbed each time they recognized a familiar face among the dead. One man shouted at the bodies of his wife and two small daughters as they were pulled from the rubble: "Why did you go? Why?"

In an interview with a Lima radio station, Pisco's mayor said, sobbing: "The dead are scattered by the dozens on the streets. We don't have lights, water, communications. Most houses have fallen. Churches, stores, hotels - everything is destroyed."

By late Thursday evening, health officials said finding survivors seemed increasingly unlikely. Those who did survive were still frightened as they described the earthquake.

"I was home, here with my children, my husband and suddenly there was a movement. I ran outside without taking anything with me and as you can see everything is destroyed. There is practically nothing left," one woman said.

Across Peru, people picked through what little they have left. Felipe Gutierrez, 82, sat in front of what was his Pisco home. The quake reduced it to rubble and he, his 74-year-old wife, and their family sat staring at the ruins of their home.

"Yesterday we slept on a mattress, and now we'll have to set up a tent, because we have nowhere to live," he said.

Help for the victims is on the way. The U.S. has promised to send aid, including tents, water, medicine and other supplies, to Peru. The United Nations, Red Cross, and European Union have also promised to help.

"The United States stands ready to assist Peru, and is willing to provide assistance based on the needs identified by the government of Peru," Gordon Johndroe, White House Spokesman, said Thursday.

The quake was centered in Peru's southern desert, near the towns of Ica and Pisco, more than 100 miles away from Lima. President Alan Garcia visited Ica, where a quarter of the buildings collapsed, declaring a state of emergency.

In Lima, 95 miles from the epicenter, only one death was recorded.

Scientists said the quake was a "megathrust" - a type of earthquake similar to the 2004 Indian Ocean quake that triggered deadly tsunami waves.

"Megathrusts produce the largest earthquakes on the planet," USGS geophysicist Paul Earle said.

Source: The Associated Press, CBN News

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