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Peruvian army moves to quell looting after quake

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 19, 2007

PISCO, Peru - The government sent the army Saturday to stop looting fueled by rising desperation in earthquake-shattered Peru, where tens of thousands were without freshwater and shivering families huddled in makeshift shelters at the center of the devastation.

In a soccer stadium in the port city of Pisco, more than 500 people rushed a lone truck that ran out of little packets of crackers, candy and toilet paper, screaming that they had not eaten and accusing rescue workers of keeping supplies for themselves.

As many as 80 percent of the people in quake-hit urban areas may not have access to clean water, and many rural communities still have not been reached to assess the damage, said Dominic Nutt, part of an emergency assessment team in Peru for the aid agency Save the Children.

"The situation is probably worse than first imagined," Nutt said.

President Alan Garcia sent 1,000 troops to stop the looting. "We're going to establish order, regardless of what it costs," he said.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Allan Wagner told the Associated Press in Pisco that the death toll from Wednesday's magnitude 8 quake had risen to 540, up from the previous figure of 510 provided by firefighters.

Destruction from the quake, which also injured at least 1,500 people, was centered in the cities of Ica and Pisco in Peru's southern desert, about 125 miles southeast of the capital, Lima.

Garcia said at least 80,000 people were affected in some way, mostly through the destruction or damage of homes.

In Pisco, some people complained of price-gouging and said the cost of basic foods had doubled or tripled at the local market. Others arrived in Pisco's central square asking for canned milk and other goods but often left empty-handed.

Soldiers stood guard at supply depots and tried to ensure that aid trucks made it to their destinations.

Miguel Soto, a police officer standing guard in the Pisco stadium, said food donated by one Lima district had been raided on the traffic-clogged highway to Pisco. Many other food trucks simply weren't getting through, he said.

Responding to criticism that aid was not arriving quickly enough, Jorge del Castillo, Garcia's Cabinet chief, told El Comerico newspaper that all planes available were now being used to ferry supplies to the victims. Immediately after the quake, many of the aircraft were used to carry the injured to Lima, he said.

Motorcycle taxi driver Marco Coila said he had moved his family out of Pisco to a village where they had hoped to find more food.

"There is nothing to eat. There is a lot of looting going on," he said.

Rescuers continued to pull bodies from the rubble of the San Clemente church in downtown Pisco, where hundreds had gathered for Mass when the quake struck Wednesday.

But hopes of finding more survivors diminished.

[Last modified August 19, 2007, 02:22:06]