Relief Effort Gears Up after 7.9-Magnitude Quake Rocks Peru

Written by Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, RedCross.org, with news reports

June 25, 2001 —  Rescuers in Peru are searching for survivors of a magnitude-7.9 earthquake that left at least 70 people dead, more than 500 injured and 20,000 without homes, according to the Peruvian Civil Defense. The temblor, which struck Saturday afternoon, was centered about 190 kilometers (120 miles) west of the coastal city of Arequipa.

The quake toppled adobe homes and stone buildings, forcing thousands to camp out in public parks and stadiums in cold winter weather. Most of the damage and fatalities occurred in the towns of Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna, according to officials and media reports. Arequipa Mayor Manuel Guillin said that 70 percent of the homes in his town were damaged.

Peruvian authorities have declared the quake-ravaged region a disaster area and asked for international assistance. The government has sent doctors and medical technicians from other areas to help the injured.

Relief officials on Saturday began gearing up to get blankets, food, shelter, medicine and clean water to survivors, according to the BBC. The first two cargo planes stocked with 22 tons of aid was headed to the quake-ravaged region on Sunday.

"The most important thing is to support work on search and rescue to get those people who are injured, then immediately to look after the people who are homeless," Ian Logan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told the BBC. Some 430 Peruvian Red Cross volunteers are providing first aid to the injured and participating in search and rescue operations.

The American Red Cross is sending cash assistance as well as plastic sheeting for shelter and blankets for the Peruvian Red Cross to distribute to quake survivors.

Throughout the weekend, stunned survivors gathered at hospitals to examine lists of the injured and the dead. Meanwhile, the Peruvian military was assessing the damages throughout the mostly rural area.

Much of Aerquipa's damage occurred in an historic part of town, where 250-year old homes toppled and the tower of an ancient church crumbled. The cathedral was first constructed in 1656, but rebuilt after an earthquake in 1868.

The quake triggered a tsunami, or giant wave, that crashed into the seaport town of Camana on Saturday, destroying more houses, killing 20 people and leaving 20 more missing, Red Cross officials said. The wave also damaged the ports of Camana and Chala.

Rescue workers were hampered overnight on Sunday because much of the power in the disaster zone was out. They feared that Moquegua was even harder hit than Arequipa but were prevented from assessing the damages because of downed telephone lines and a landslide blocking the main road into the town, 62 miles southeast of Arequipa.

Peru is intermittently shaken by quakes, including a 7.7-magnitude temblor on May 31, 1970, that killed about 70,000 people.

On November 12, 1996, 17 people were killed and some 1,500 were injured when a 7.7-magnitude quake stuck. On May 30, 1990, a 6.3-magnitude temblor left 137 people dead in northern Peru.