Americas News

Peruvian president announces rebuilding programme after quake

Aug 22, 2007, 23:32 GMT

Lima - One week after a massive earthquake shook Peru leaving at least 513 dead and more than 1,000 others injured, President Alan Garcia announced a rebuilding programme for the affected provinces.

'The will is always stronger than nature,' Garcia said Wednesday amid the ruins of the San Clemente cathedral in the city of Pisco.

The strongest earthquake in Peru in nearly 40 years destroyed 37,521 buildings, including 42 schools and most hospitals in the region south of Lima.

Garcia's rebuilding programme would put fishermen, merchants and others made unemployed by the disaster to work clearing rubble.

Pisco, where the historic city centre was destroyed, would be rebuilt more beautiful and larger than before, Garcia said.

His remarks met with criticism from residents who told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that they still did not have enough money to rebuild their homes.

Critics also pointed to the uneven distribution of food, water and other aid, which has reached the centres of affected cities, but not the outer regions.

The exact number of dead in the quake remains unclear, because dozens remain missing under the rubble.