The death toll from a powerful earthquake in Peru rose to at least 437 people, the nation's civil defence agency said today. Last night's earthquake knocked down thousands of houses and structures south of Lima.
Powerful aftershocks shook Peru today as rescuers pulled wounded and dead from collapsed homes and churches a day after the earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale killed hundreds.
Hospitals were overwhelmed with injured in the cities of Chincha and Pisco on the Pacific coast, and dead bodies were gathered on street corners in Pisco.
Peru's civil defence agency said at least 1,300 were injured in the quake and the death toll was expected to rise.
The US Geological Survey reported aftershocks of magnitude 6.0 and 6.3 on Thursday morning near the central Peru coast.
Wounded people lay on the floor in the San Jose hospital in Chincha, south of the capital Lima. Television images showed walls in the hospital destroyed by the quake.
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.
Four strong aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 5.4 to 5.9 were felt after the initial quake.
Emergency workers said the coastal province of Ica, south of Lima, was the hardest hit region.
One fire department official in the area said at least four people were trapped when the main tower of a church in the city of Ica was toppled.
Rescuers struggled to move south toward Ica as portions of the Pan-American Highway, an key coastal route, were impassable, and thieves assaulted stranded travellers, radio reports said.
Office workers ran onto the streets as tall buildings in Lima shook in two waves that lasted around 20 seconds each and cut power lines.
A tsunami warning was issued for Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia and a small tsunami was detected. But it posed no major threat and the warning was later lifted.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia sent condolences to the families of the quake's victims and said the country, which has suffered devastating quakes in the past, narrowly escaped a major disaster.
"It fortunately did not cause a catastrophe with an immense number of victims," he said.
The US Geological Survey at first said there were two earthquakes within minutes of each other but later amended its reports to show that one quake struck about 90 miles southeast of Lima at a depth of around 25 miles.
In 1970, one of the world's deadliest earthquakes killed an estimated 50,000 Peruvians in catastrophic avalanches of ice and mud that buried the city of Yungay.