Peru quake survivors struggle in tent camps

By Staff
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PISCO, Peru, Aug 31 (Reuters) Tens of thousands of bedraggled survivors of a devastating earthquake in Peru are now stuck in tent camps where they may linger for months while they try to rebuild their homes.

Some 520 people were killed and 58,000 homes collapsed when an 8.0 magnitude quake struck Peru's central coast two weeks ago. It knocked out electricity and phone lines and buckled highways and bridges, slowing the government's relief efforts.

Survivors say aid trucks are now delivering enough food and bottled water but complain it is taking too long to demolish what remains of their homes, bring in temporary housing and rebuild the hardest hit cities of Chincha, Ica and Pisco.

Thousands sleep on thin mattresses laid on asphalt, bathe and wash clothes in buckets and cook from propane tanks connected to salvaged stoves.

''We're going to clear our lot and then put up tents on it because we don't have enough money to rebuild with good materials,'' Veronica Cabrera, 25, said in front of a camp of two dozen families in a town square in Chincha.

In Pisco, the earthquake ruptured three cement structures that house hundreds of coffins stacked five high in closed niches, cracking open coffins and tossing them into piles.

Exposed skeletons rest at odd angles in the cemetery.

The government struggled to deliver aid in the first few days after the quake, one of the worst disasters in Peru in the last century.

WATER AND WALTZES Since then it has started work on restoring electricity and water supplies, and is also organizing concerts to help overwhelmed people relax.

Townspeople clapped as a small brass band belted out waltzes on a square in Chincha this week. Many sipped pisco, a traditional grape liquor from the region.

But at Pisco's landfill, men caked in dirt scavenge for scraps of plastic, steel or copper that were found in the rubble of toppled buildings and later dumped.

Most of them used to fish or tend fields for a living but the local economy is in disarray, so they now hawk trash to recyclers for pennies.

''We started working here the day after the quake, finding stuff to sell so we could eat, because help had not arrived,'' Elmer Medina, 35, said as he sorted piles of junk with his brothers, sisters and cousins.

''This president doesn't help,'' he said of President Alan Garcia, who promised homeowners 1,900 dollar each to help rebuild.

The cash has yet to reach them in the shelters.

Half a dozen shelters in Pisco hold around 15,000 people, providing limited water and electricity plus protection, with tall walls and military police guarding them.

Felicia Cossio, 71, lives in a tent city of 3,000 people at the Pisco Athletic Club, next to the town cemetery, where she went to check on the coffins of her parents and husband.

''They are OK,'' she said, clearly relieved. Exhausted by the ordeal of the last two weeks, Cossio said her wrecked home needs to be demolished and she expects to be homeless for months to come.

But she did not join the criticism of Garcia, who spent the first few days after the quake in the disaster zone, directing the relief operation. ''The government is helping us. We have food and tents,'' she said.

Reuters RKM VP0432

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