BBC News Online: World: Americas

Hunger stalks quake victims

His comments follow the Pan-American Health Organisation's warning that as many as half of the country's six million people are without water supplies.

More than 650 people are known to have died, while hundreds of others are missing.

The dead are being buried as quickly as possible, often in mass graves, to prevent the spread of disease.

Mr Castro said the damage was far worse than that caused by Hurricane Mitch two years ago, and that reconstruction efforts would take months.

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

About 20,000 people have been evacuated from areas at risk from further landslides caused by the continuous aftershocks.

With little prospect of finding any more people alive in the rubble of collapsed buildings, the authorities have switched their attention from rescue to relief.

International aid is flowing into the country, while the El Salvadorean army has been mobilised to distribute food, tents and blankets to the homeless.

President Flores has thanked the international community for its help in mounting a massive relief operation.

Saturday's earthquake also hit Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

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