Race to find Peru quake survivors

Survivors have been recounting their ordeal

A huge rescue operation is under way in southern Peru, after a powerful earthquake rocked the Andean region, killing about 50 people and injuring hundreds more.

There is an enormous number of injured and the dead are literally thrown about on the ground

A radio reporter in Moquegua

Teams of emergency workers have continued scouring Peru's southern mountains and coast to find survivors, and ferrying food and medicine to thousands of people left homeless.

The authorities have declared the region a disaster zone and launched an immediate appeal for food, medicine, blankets and other forms of humanitarian aid.

Littering southern Peru with rubble and debris, the quake triggered mudslides - blocking roads, destroying houses and cutting off electricity supplies and phone lines.

Witnesses

Survivors have been recounting their ordeal. One witness in Peru's second largest city, Arequipa, said the ground made huge waves which shook the surrounding area.

"Please help us, we've lost everything," wailed Maria Luis Arbului, whose house was destroyed. "The rocks took my bed and my furniture and now I'm left out on the street."

The President of Peru, Valentine Paniagua, has journeyed to the disaster zone where he said the situation was heart-wrenching.

The President-elect, Alejandro Toledo, arrived in Arequipa after postponing a trip to the United States "to extend a hand of solidarity".

The quake, which lasted more than a minute, struck about 600km south-east of the Peruvian capital Lima at 1533 local time (2033 GMT) on Saturday and sent residents fleeing from their homes in panic.

Aftershocks

It had a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale and its epicentre was in the Pacific Ocean close to the Peruvian coast, according to the US National Earthquake Information Centre in Golden, Colorado.

Residents rushed from their homes

The Peruvian Geophysical Institute, however, reported that the tremor measured 6.9 and that the epicentre was some 80km inland.

Chile and Bolivia also felt the earthquake. In northern Chile, 30 people were injured, four of them seriously.

By early Sunday, there were at least 26 aftershocks with up to 6.2 magnitude, Peruvian officials said.

The heaviest damage occurred in Arequipa, known as Peru's "white city" because of its fine colonial architecture and churches.

One of the towers of the city's cathedral had collapsed, scattering rubble in the street, and another was badly damaged and threatening to fall.

The quake was also felt in the Peruvian towns of Cuzco, Pisco, Puno and Mollendo.

Peru was battered by a strong 7.7 magnitude tremor in 1970 that killed approximately 70,000 people. That left about 600,000 homeless across the country.