By IANS
Lima : The magnitude-8 earthquake that shook coastal Peru has left 510 dead, more than 1,500 injured and at least 85,000 people homeless, America Television reported.
The temblor Wednesday night had its biggest impact south of Lima, in cities such as Pisco, Ica, Chincha and Paracas.
According to the Spanish news agency EFE, Peru’s Indeci civil-defence agency said Thursday that a total of 16,669 homes were destroyed by the quake, whose epicentre was located under the Pacific Ocean, 167 km southeast of the capital.
Following the earthquake at least 368 aftershocks have been felt in Peru, according to a report by the Geophysical Institute. The latest, which occurred Friday morning, measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and sparked renewed alarm.
On Thursday, two people were rescued alive from the rubble of San Clemente Church in Pisco, which collapsed during the massive earthquake.
The rescue carried out by fire fighters was reported on Peruvian television, which showed the confused shouting of Pisco residents in the midst of the tragedy as they watched to see if more survivors could be found.
Hundreds of people were attending Mass at San Clemente Church at the time of the quake, and many were trapped inside when the building collapsed.
With the chaos reigning in Pisco due to the power outage, lack of water and communications shutdown, the authorities decided to place the dead bodies in the main square for their relatives to identify and remove for burial.
Those left homeless have complained of the inadequate distribution of emergency aid and demand the presence of government authorities to take a census of those affected.
At least 100 people injured in the temblor, many of them seriously, were taken from Pisco to be given emergency treatment in Lima.
Those with serious injuries were flown to the capital by the Peruvian air force because of the impossibility of attending them in Pisco hospitals, overwhelmed by Wednesday’s disaster.
The airlift established Thursday by the air force made more than 10 flights from Lima carrying emergency aid and returned with the injured and their loved ones.
A Chilean air force plane is expected to arrive Friday in Pisco with 15 tonnes of basic necessities for the quake victims, while assistance from the governments of Colombia and Bolivia has already reached the stricken city.
The authorities said that Thursday night they distributed four tons of food in the area along with 300 beds, 200 mattresses and 1,200 blankets.
President Alan Garcia was in Pisco Thursday to view the damage and oversee recovery efforts.
While aid is still concentrated in Ica, Pisco, Chincha and Cañete, residents of neighbouring Andean towns complained Friday by calling in to radio stations that they had been abandoned.
The Peruvian government called for a meeting Friday of the international aid organisations with representation in the country to coordinate help for those left homeless by the earthquake.
Set to participate in the meeting were representatives of the French and Japanese embassies, the Organisation of American States, the International Organisation for Migration and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.