Peruvian president deploying troops against quake looting

Aug 18, 2007, 13:55 GMT

A rescue worker stands next to a building in Pisco, Peru, 17 August 2007, one of the most affected cities in the country after a powerful earthquake hit the region on Wednesday registering 8.0 on the Richter scale, leaving more than 500 people dead, and more than a thousand injured. EPA/José Jácome

Lima - Two days after a massive earthquake in central Peru, massive looting on Friday prompted President Alan Garcia to start deploying Navy and Army troops to keep eorder in Ica, the area most affected by a powerful earthquake.

In one case, a local mayor was trying to transport material to affected quake areas when robbers attacked him. In other cases, truck drivers fired guns in retaliation.

Civil Defence authorities said the official death toll had increased to 446 from the country's worst quake in 37 years, and put the official number of injured as high as 1,008.

Peru has received 40 million dollars in international aid to help with relief efforts, the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation (APCI) said Friday.

The amount includes 5 million dollars in funds and humanitarian aid received since the quake, and another 5 million dollars granted at a meeting of international donors on Friday in Lima and 30 million dollars offered by the United Nations, APCI President Agustin Haya de la Torre said.

Large groups of people who say they lost property in the tragedy and still have not received help are raiding trucks, buses and cars trying to get to the area, and throw stones at the vehicles when they come up short handed after trying to grab items off the vehicles,several witnesses said.

In the face of the problem, Garcia - who is staying in Pisco since Thursday to lead relief effort - said he will deploy Navy and Army troops to 'impose respect.'

'I do not want to take extreme measures, or declare a curfew,' Garcia said.

However, the president - who admitted that the death toll 'can possibly surpass 500' - warned that he will not allow the situation to get out of control.

In the centre of Pisco, the port city most affected by the quake, a crowd raided a pharmacy and took whatever they could find while Peruvian television cameras recorded the scenes.

City residents said similar incidents were seen in several areas of Pisco, which already had severe crime problems before the tragedy. Some attempts were prevented by police, while others succeeded.

In regional capital Ica, there was looting in peripheral neighbourhoods also considered unsafe before the quake, Peruvian television reported. The most serious case happened in a mall from which attackers took household electrical appliances among other things.

The most violent incident took place outside the city of Ica, where some 300 people tried to raid trucks. Some of the truck drivers shot handguns in retaliation.

Freddy Ternero, mayor of the San Martin de Porres district in Lima, attempted to take aid to the affected areas on behalf of his constituency. But he was a victim of the attack outside Ica, he told Peruvian television.

Ternero said that when the attempted robbery failed, attackers threw stones at the vehicles.

'I hope the government manages to distribute aid soon, because people are getting desperate,' said Ternero, a popular figure after coaching the country's national football team.

Some businesses in Ica were open to the public Friday, although they took extra precautions. In Pisco, virtually all shops remained closed.

There were also reports of robberies in rural areas that rescue teams had not yet reached.

Aristides Mussio, head of operations of Peru's Civil Defence, said new figures from the Andean regions of Ayacucho and Huancavelica brought the number of collapsed buildings up to 16,879. But that figure does not include the province of Pisco, in the Ica region, which was most affected by the quake, so the total figure could rise to more than 30,000, he said.

On Friday, a 5.5-magnitude aftershock tremor again caused panic in Lima and in the Ica region. No further damage had been reported. There have been nearly 400 aftershocks since Wednesday's 8.0 magnitude quake.

More than 85,000 Peruvians were made homeless in the worst-hit region, Ica, and in Lima itself. Rescue teams were still searching for survivors under the rubble, while the worst-hit cities were still without water and electricity supplies Friday.

'The situation in Pisco is a catastrophe,' Norbert Haase, the German Red Cross chief in Peru, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. 'People are traumatized by the earthquake, by these great losses of relatives.'

Peruvian authorities thanked the international community for aid.

'We only have grateful words, and we are going to make sure that your support and cooperation are appropriately channelled,' said Jorge del Castillo, chairman of the Peruvian Council of Ministers.

Del Castillo said the international aid will not only be used in the initial stage of providing assistance to the injured and those who lost possessions, but also in the process of reconstruction in the Ica region, which was most affected by the quake.

More than 50 representatives from several countries and international organizations took part in the donors' conference.

The International Federation of the Red Cross, IFRC, on Friday launched an appeal for 1.6 million francs (1.3 million dollars) to help relief operations in Peru. The money would allow the Peruvian Red Cross to provide assistance to 20,000 people affected by Wednesday's earthquake, the Geneva-based IFRC said.

Tents, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothes were urgently needed to protect against the Peruvian winter.

The United States is sending doctors to help victims of Peru's earthquake and giving 150,000 dollars in emergency aid, the State Department said Friday.

Two US military C-130 cargo planes are moving in a surgical team based in Honduras, and two mobile clinics based in the capital Lima will be sent to the worst-hit area on Peru's southern Pacific coast, department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

A US medical team that was on a training mission in the region when the quake struck Wednesday has split into three teams and is working with Peruvian authorities, he said.

Part of the aid funds will be used to buy medical supplies, and the US Embassy is loaning two helicopters to Peruvian authorities. Other US aid experts are headed to Peru to assess what other emergency needs there might be, McCormack said.