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Peru Quake Survivors Grow Desperate

By FRANK BAJAK,
AP
Posted: 2007-08-18 19:24:57
Filed Under: World News
PISCO, Peru (Aug. 18) - The government sent the army Saturday to stop looting fueled by rising desperation in earthquake-shattered Peru, where tens of thousands were without fresh water and shivering families huddled in makeshift shelters at the center of the devastation.

In a soccer stadium in the port city of Pisco, more than 500 people rushed a lone truck that ran out little packets of crackers, candy and toilet paper, screaming that they had not eaten and accusing rescue workers of keeping supplies for themselves.

As many as 80 percent of the people in quake-hit urban areas may not have access to clean water and many rural communities still have not been reached to assess the damage, said Dominic Nutt, part of an emergency assessment team in Peru for the aid agency Save the Children.

"The situation is probably worse than first imagined," Nutt said.

President Alan Garcia sent 1,000 troops to stop the looting. "We're going to establish order, regardless of what it costs," he said.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Allan Wagner told The Associated Press in Pisco that the death toll from Wednesday's magnitude-8 quake had risen to 540, up from the previous figure of 510 provided by firefighters.

Destruction from the quake, which also injured at least 1,500 people, was centered in the cities of Ica and Pisco in Peru's southern desert, about 125 miles southeast of the capital, Lima.

Garcia said at least 80,000 people were affected in some way, mostly through the destruction or damage of homes.

Coverage in Spanish: AOL Latino

At one end of a soccer field in Pisco, families who had lost everything huddled in a half dozen makeshift shelters made of cardboard and blankets held up by wooden poles.

"We don't have water. The tents have not arrived," said Maria Tataja, 38, who shared an open-fronted shelter with nine other people. She shivered in the ocean breeze.

Some people complained of price-gouging and said the cost of basic foods had doubled or tripled at the local market. Others arrived in Pisco's central square asking for canned milk and other goods but often left empty-handed.

Soldiers stood guard at supply depots and tried to ensure that aid trucks made it to their destinations.

Miguel Soto, a police officer standing guard in the Pisco stadium, said food donated by one Lima district had been raided on the traffic-clogged highway to Pisco. Many other food trucks simply weren't getting through, he said.

Responding to criticism that aid was not arriving quickly enough, Jorge del Castillo, Garcia's Cabinet chief, told El Comerico newspaper said that all planes available were now being used to ferry supplies to the victims. Immediately after the quake, many of the aircraft were used to carry the injured to Lima, he said.

Motorcycle taxi driver Marco Coila said he had moved his family out of Pisco to a village where they had hoped to find more food.

"There is nothing to eat. There is a lot of looting going on," he said.

Rescuers continued to pull bodies from the rubble of the San Clemente church in downtown Pisco, where hundreds had gathered for Mass when the quake struck Wednesday.

But hopes of finding more survivors diminished.

Paul Wooster, coordinator of the Rapid UK Rescue team from Gloucester, England, said rescuers were using sound detectors and infrared cameras to search mountains of rubble. The latest survivor discovered, a man, was pulled from the rubble at midday Friday.

"We always work on a four-day window and I'm talking realistically. So we are still looking for survivors but there's not much more time," Wooster said.

The U.S. dispatched medical teams, two mobile clinics and two helicopters, along with $150,000 to buy emergency supplies. S. Ward Casscells, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, arrived in Pisco on Saturday to assess the needs of the people and how the U.S. can help.

Associated Press writers Jeanneth Valdivieso in Pisco and Monte Hayes, Leslie Josephs and Edison Lopez in Lima contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-08-15 22:09:07
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2389 comments

XDAiLLEZTLATiNAX 03:29:51 PM Aug 31 2007

Report This!

orinthipiter

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK ~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XDAiLLEZTLATiNAX 03:29:33 PM Aug 31 2007

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[orinthipiter] AMERICAN WASNT THE ONLY ONE WHO HELP OKAYYY STUPID ASS IT WAS COLOMBIA , BRZIL , CHILE, VENEZUELA AND AMERICA YOU ******* MORON AND SEC0ND OF ALL STOP BEING SELFISH YOU JUST HATE THE FACT THAT AMERICA IS HELP A PO0R COUNTRY THAT IS IN NEED OF HELP YOU STUPID ASS !!!!!!! AND WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH YOU !!!!SAYING PERUVIANS GET THE MONEY AND MAKE MORE BABIES NEWSFLASHHHHHH
N0W ONLY PERUVIAN D0 THAT STUPID DUMB ASS EVEN AMERICAN HAVE KIDS , CHINESE , INDIANS , SPANISH , JAMAICANS AND ALL THEM PEOPLE HAVE MANY KIDS AND WHAT .......THEY LEARN GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE AND BE PROFESSIONAL IN THE FUTURE !!!
SERIOUSLYYYYYY THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK DUMB ASS !!!!!!

orinthipiter 12:24:00 AM Aug 30 2007

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the moment i heard that a south american countryhaqd yet another disaster THAT THEY CANNOT HANDLE THEMSELVES (they never can) i knew that FOOL AMERICA would send aid and money to a population that hates them.

LOOK AT WHAT PERUVIAN IMMIGRANTS ARE DOING TO THE US, MORONS!!!

GIVE GIVE GIVE THEM MORE MONEY, SO THEY CAN MAKE EVEN MORE BABIES, AND BECOME EVEN MORE CROWDED AND IMPOVERISHES, AND THEIR NEXT GENERATION, FUNDED BY YOU, WILL HATE AND MANIPULATE YOUR CHILDREN FOR MORE MONEY.

THE UNITED STATES HAS BEEN GIVING AWAY FOREIGN AID FOR YEARS AND YEARS.

WHAT IS THE RESULT???

1) greater world populaiton,more people to take care of, move poverty.

2) MORE HATE for the united states.

THE UNITED STATES IS THE MOST HATED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!

WHY???

because YOU PAY THEM TO HATE YOU, YOU REWARD THEM, JUST LIKE A SPOILED CHILD, OR A SPOILED DOG.

BITE ME, TREAT YOU.

STOP LETTING FOREIGNERS TELL YOU HOW TO THINK AND MAKE UP STORIES ABOUT HOW THEY LOVE YOU WITH YOUR MONEY.

FOREIGNERS WI

jambronco1 10:57:14 PM Aug 28 2007

Report This!

THIS IS WHEN AMERICA STANDS OUT, WE GIVE FROM OUR HEARTS . SOME OF THE PEOPLE WE HELP MAY HATE US BUT WE OVERCOME THAT. GREAT PEOPLE
WE ARE.

jwcushard 06:45:57 PM Aug 26 2007

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After reading some of these post, I wonder what happened to the American Spirit. It has always been,a matter of great pride to help, in times of need. It is the foundation of humanity, the way we treat our brothers and sisters in a time of need.

XDAiLLEZTLATiNAX 09:46:14 PM Aug 25 2007

Report This!

graybuckf
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK PERU HATES THE AMERICANS ??????????
YOU JUST SELFISH AND SO0 NAIVE BECAUSE YOU DONT EVEN KNOW HOW MANY PO0R PEOPLE ARE THERE AND EVEN THOUGHT THE AMERICANS ARE HELPING ,THEY ARE ALWAYS GRATEFULL , SO0 DONT SAY PERU HATES US WHEN THEY DONT !!!!

graybuckf 04:06:41 PM Aug 25 2007

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PERU HATES THE US.

LOOK AT THE POSTINGS!!!

WE ARE IN PERU- WE HAVE A DISASTER, SO, WE BLAME AMERICA BECAUSE THEY ARE RICH AND SELFISH.

(AND THE STUPID AMERICANS RESPOND BY GIVING UP EVEN MORE MONEY TO A COUNTRY THAT HATES THEM AND HAS THE NERVE TO BLAME THEM FOR THEIR POVERTY AND DISASTERS)

STUPID.

graybuckf 04:04:08 PM Aug 25 2007

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AMERICAN MONEY:

DEAR AMERICA;

YOU ARE THE MOST HATED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
Y?

CUZ YOU GIVE MONEY TO ANYBODY AND EVERYBODY EVEN THOUGH THE GENERAL POPULACE HATES YOU.

HATE US, REWARD YOU.

WAY TO GO AMERICA. KEEP GIVING OUT YOUR MONEY WHILE THEY INCREASE THEIR HATRED, AND POPULATION, TILL THERE IS NO MORE MONEY.

jmw3672 10:03:34 AM Aug 25 2007

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mundierobert, Hugo Chavez is a dictator just like Sadaam Husein was but without the power!

jmw3672 09:59:54 AM Aug 25 2007

Report This!

Please help these people! Send anything you can afford to :
Embassy of Peru in the United States
1700 Massachussets Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

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