By DPA
Lima : The death toll of the powerful earthquake that struck central Peru had climbed to at least 437, the Institute for Civil Defence in Lima said.
Civil Defence chief Luis Palomino said 829 people were injured and 16,659 families suffered damage to their property in Wednesday’s quake, the worst in 27 years in Peru.
Peruvian Fire Department commander Roberto Ocno Thursday put the death toll “between 500 and 510” people, and estimated the likely figure of injured at 1,600.
As relief and rescue efforts continued, scores of tremors shook Peru Thursday in aftershocks of Wednesday’s powerful 8.0-magnitude earthquake, continuing to cause panic among the population. As many as 100 tremors had been recorded by Thursday morning, with the strongest measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale.
In the Ica region, the area most affected by the quake some 300 km south of Lima, more than 80,000 people have been left homeless, Civil Protection officials said.
In Pisco, Ica and Chincha – the three cities most affected by the quake – a large portion of the buildings have collapsed or been damaged, hospitals were full, people were on the streets with no food or clothes, there was no electricity or telephone system and many corpses remained on show awaiting identification.
The number of dead has been rising as efforts progress to remove the debris, but authorities said more survivors and bodies might be found as debris is removed.
The Peruvian Air Force had set up an air bridge between the capital Lima and Ica in order to start delivering relief goods to the stricken towns.
Walter Tapia, head of operations and emergency at the National Institute of Civil Defence (Indeci), said 829 people are among the injured, a drop from an earlier official figure of more than 1,000 and of media reports citing more than 1,300 wounded.
Health Minister Carlos Vallejos described the situation in the region after Wednesday’s quake as “dramatic.”
Peruvian President Alan Garcia arrived in the city of Pisco on Thursday morning to lead relief efforts. Some 250 of the fatalities occurred in the coastal city, Civil Protection said Thursday.
Pisco Mayor Juan Mendoza said 70 per cent of the city has been destroyed.
“We have worked so hard for our city, and now everything has been destroyed,” Mendoza told Peruvian radio in tears.
A hospital collapsed in Pisco causing the death of at least 30 people, hospital chief Fernando Barros said, calling the situation “horrible.” There were also reports of looting.
In Pisco, Garcia said, one of the priority tasks was to set up an air bridge to evacuate some of the injured to hospitals in the capital Lima, 250 kilometres north of the city.
The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in the region of Ica for 60 days, as well as three days of national mourning.
Schools were ordered closed Thursday and all police officers were called out onto the streets. Hospitals were ordered to treat all patients without exception, although many facilities that were also damaged in the quake were reportedly overwhelmed by the number of casualties.
Health Ministry doctors had been on strike when the quake struck, but immediately called off their work stoppage to treat the injured.
The quake was also felt in Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia.
In a telegram to Peruvian bishops, Pope Benedict XVI called upon “institutions and people of good will” to give the necessary aid to victims of the quake, and said he was “deeply moved by the sad news of the earthquake, which claimed many lives and caused great material damage.”
The United Nations, governments and humanitarian agencies rallied Thursday to assist Peru’s victims.
UN agencies had released 200,000 dollars in emergency funds and were poised to send in a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team as well as search and rescue workers if required. The British charity Oxfam has also sent in teams.
The White House offered US aid, including search and rescue teams, to help Peru deal with the quake aftermath. A US foreign aid team is on the ground in Lima, assessing the damage and working with Peruvian officials, said Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman.
President George W. Bush extended condolences to the families of those who died in the quake, Johndroe said.
Switzerland had sent in experts, while Spain offered a team of 15 rescuers and four sniffer dogs, said the Geneva-based United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.
The International Federation of the Red Cross was one of the first agencies to fly in tents and plastic sheeting from Panama and was also providing money from its disaster relief fund.
Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni met with Peru’s ambassador to Tel Aviv to offer help. An Israeli military spokeswoman said it had started preparations in the event its rescue teams would be asked to travel to Peru.
The Chilean and Colombian Red Cross remained on standby to provide further assistance alongside the Peruvian Red Cross. The Pan American Disaster Response Unit (PADRU) was also on standby to send in tents, blankets and otherprovisions.
Garcia also said he had received condolences from presidents Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva of Brazil, Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Felipe Calderon of Mexico. The four heads of state spoke to Garcia by phone to commit aid packages that were expected to arrive in Peru within hours.
The initial, most powerful shock struck at 6:31 pm (2331 GMT) Wednesday and sent about two minutes of tremors out from its epicentre near the city of Pisco, about 45 kilometres west-north-west of Chincha Alta, and 145 kilometres south-south-east of Lima, the US Geological Survey said.
The epicentre was located 41 kilometres beneath the Pacific Ocean. A preliminary tsunami warning has since been lifted.
Damage was limited in Lima, but the quake caused panic and chaos there. Thousands fled onto the streets from apartments and offices. Telephone service was cut and windows shattered. Hospitals reported treating injuries caused by broken glass and patients suffering shock and panic. Two people died in Lima of heart attacks.