Earthquake devastation in Peru leads to chaos

With more than 500 people reported dead, thousands injured and tens of thousands left homeless the efforts to bring aid to the areas devastated by the 7.9 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday began.

Government officials were scrambling to restore order as hungry survivors and street criminals ransacked markets and aid trucks. President Alan Garcia ordered thousands of solders into the region to restore order in the city and along the highway from Lima.

Rescue workers began the grim task of locating bodies as the possibility of survivors became more grim. The sheer scope of the disaster is complicating the effort. For example, more than 60 people died while celebrating the Feast of the Assumption at the Church of San Clemente in Pisco. The walls of the 18th century church caved in as the temblor struck killing dozens.

The earthquake has spurred Eduardo Romero to re-start his blog, Peruvia. He is the master at finding Peru-related links on the web and he has an extensive listing of English-language stories available. He has also posted a page of sites to visit if you wish to help the relief efforts.

::NOTE:: I apologize for not updating the site and for the brevity of this entry. Although, at this point, the regular media has most of the salient data on what is happening. I am trying to get to the disaster zone and will update Andean Currents with my information if I succeed.

Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

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