A 7.9 magnitude quake shook Peru today, with aftershocks coming as big as M 6.3. News agencies report a high casualty: hundreds were killed and at least 1300 were injured.
CHINCHA, Peru (Reuters) -
Powerful aftershocks shook Peru
on Thursday as rescuers pulled wounded and dead from collapsed
homes and churches a day after a massive earthquake killed
hundreds of people. |
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 defense agency said at least 337 people
perished and 1,300 were injured in the 7.9-magnitude quake and
the death toll was expected to rise. |
The U.S. 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. |
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