CHINCHA, Peru (Reuters) -
Powerful aftershocks shook Peru
on Thursday as rescuers pulled wounded and dead from collapsed
homes and churches a day after a massive earthquake killed
hundreds of people.
Hospitals were overwhelmed with injured in the cities of
Chincha and Pisco on the Pacific coast, and dead bodies were
gathered on street corners in Pisco.
Peru's civil defense agency said at least 337 people
perished and 1,300 were injured in the 7.9-magnitude quake and
the death toll was expected to rise.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported aftershocks of
magnitude 6.0 and 6.3 on Thursday morning near the central Peru
coast.
Wounded people lay on the floor in the San Jose hospital in
Chincha, south of the capital Lima. Television images showed
walls in the hospital destroyed by the quake.
In the San Juan de Dios hospital in Pisco, doctor Ricardo
Cabrera said staff was struggling to cope with 200 wounded and
more than 40 dead, with no power and a large part of the
hospital damaged.
