Quake survivors face new threat

Tremors are hampering the relief effort

The authorities in El Salvador have been moving survivors of Saturday's devastating earthquake away from danger zones.

Strong aftershocks have continued to trigger landslides and shake buildings already weakened by the 7.6 magnitude quake.

Police said the death toll had reached 600, with the national emergency committee putting it at more than 900. Both said the final figure would exceed 1,000.

A dog being freed from the rubble on Monday

President Francisco Flores said the worst was over, but that some of the hardest-hit areas were still at risk.

Nearly 18,000 people have been evacuated from dangerous locations, police said.

Tens of thousands of people have spent their third night outdoors, as the focus turns from rescue to relief.

Survivor ill

It is now more than a day since the last survivor was found in the rubble and he is fighting for his life.

Sergio Moreno was rescued on Sunday after being trapped for 30 hours. He is suffering heart and kidney failure and has had a leg amputated.

A Red Cross spokesman said on Tuesday that rescue efforts were expected to continue for at least another 24 hours, but the priorities were providing food and shelter for survivors.

The quake left more than 45,000 homes destroyed or damaged and major roads blocked.

As many as half of the country's six million people are without water supplies, the Pan-American Health Organisation said.

President Flores said his government was intensifying efforts to get food, blankets and tents to those made homeless.

Improvised shelters of canvas and plastic have been erected and the army is distributing rations of rice and beans.

The president also thanked the international community for its help.

Deforestation

El Salvador's national emergency committee has said the number of dead is likely to rise as it receives full reports from rural areas.

El Salvador country profile

Pop: 6,122,515

Known as the Land of the Volcanoes - suffers frequent earthquakes

Smallest and most densely populated central American state

12-year civil war ending in 1992 cost 75,000 lives

Deforestation and soil erosion major environmental issues (Source: CIA factbook)

Many towns were cut off as landslides swept across roads, disrupting power supplies. The authorities are desperately trying to re-establish communications.

A Red Cross spokesman, Dennis McClean, suggested the disaster had been made worse by the erosion of topsoil caused by tree felling.

"One of the contributive factors to the high loss of life in this disaster has been deforestation," he said.

Some of those who lost relatives in the badly-hit San Salvador suburb of Las Colinas have strongly criticised the authorities for allowing houses to be built in the area.

Officials told the BBC that about 500 people had been killed in the area.

The quake also hit Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

The last major earthquake in El Salvador was in 1986 when 1,400 people died.