SAN SALVADOR - Salvadorans scoured through foul-smelling, black body bags yesterday in a bid to identify relatives following an earthquake that killed more than 600 people and left 500 more missing and feared dead.
While relatives sought to bury their loved ones, the Government rushed food, drink, medicine and blankets to tens of thousands of people left homeless throughout Central America's smallest nation after Sunday's 7.6 magnitude quake.
Rescue workers also acknowledged they had given up hope of finding buried survivors and focused on locating and unearthing bodies to reduce the risk of diseases spreading in the coffee-growing nation of 6.2 million people.
Amid repeated ground-shaking aftershocks, emergency workers in the worst-hit area of Santa Tecla, just outside the capital, unloaded scores of corpses from trucks.
They allowed mourners, covering their mouths, to glimpse inside the plastic bags and take bodies away for private burial.
The stomach-wrenching smell assailed those who peered into the bags. Unidentified bodies were dumped into mass graves.
A huge international relief operation continued, despite aftershocks that measured up to 5 in magnitude. Buildings were rocked, triggering fresh landslides and sending people scurrying from damaged buildings.
"Everyone is so tense. As soon as anything starts to shake, you run out. It's really frightening," office cleaner Sonia Calderon said.
Many victims were buried under massive mudslides set off by the biggest quake to hit this nation since 1986, when about 1500 people died.
President Francisco Flores said the death toll would steadily rise as more bodies were found.
The president ordered 3000 coffins after the quake partly or totally destroyed about 38,000 homes and injured more than 2300 people.
Most of the homeless are gathered in temporary shelters, the largest of which is an outdoor sports complex in San Salvador.
"Everything that I have is now within arm's reach," said Nubia Odena, sitting on a piece of cardboard with her sons, ages 4 and 5, gripping two plastic bags that held small water sachets and clothes.
Some 6000 people share 35 portable toilets and sleep in the open or beneath makeshift shelters made from plastic sheets. They receive fruit, sodas, blankets and Bible lessons from evangelical preachers using megaphones.
Salvador's Health Ministry said it was worried about the possible outbreak of cholera from contaminated water, dengue fever from mosquito bites and respiratory infections. Officials have yet to report any outbreaks.
The Government has estimated the earthquake caused up to $US1 billion ($2.29 billion) damage in this $US6 billion-a-year economy.
Since taking office in 1999, Flores has been modernising the country. This month he made the US dollar standard currency in a bid to attract foreign investment.
His drive to further open the economy comes against the backdrop of a 1980-1992 civil war when powerful Marxist groups fought to install a communist government.
Despite more than 1000 aftershocks since Sunday, emergency workers were confident they could ferry supplies to thousands of homeless Salvadorans stranded in isolated towns and villages.
"I think things are working quite well because relief got here earlier [than recent other natural disasters in Latin America]," said US Army helicopter pilot Richard Krell, one of 20 personnel who arrived on Sunday from their base in Honduras.
He was delivering supplies and rescue teams across Salvador in difficult flying conditions.
"We are landing on soccer pitches that have no grass, meaning we brown-out, blowing up dust so that from about 6m up we cannot see anything," Krell said.
The quake, with an epicentre off the Pacific coast, about 105km southeast of the capital, was felt as far north as Mexico City.
Guatemalan officials said the death toll there was six.
Flores said international aid had arrived quickly enough for Salvador to respond adequately.
"Each generation of Salvadorans has had to face tragedy.
"This has built the Salvadoran character," said Flores, evoking memories of natural disasters and the nation's civil war that cost 75,000 lives.
"We are stoic, hard-working people full of hope."
- REUTERS
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