(27 Aug 2007)
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Children walking among the ruins of a house
2. Tilt up crack caused by the earthquake
3. Houses damaged by earthquake
4. People walking through the rubble
5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Alberto Carpio, local resident who lost his house:
"Here more than 150 people have died."
6. People sitting by ruined house
7. Woman holding her son
8. Pan across damaged house
9. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Maria Zapata, local resident::
"We were left with nothing. We have nothing but here we are, thank God."
10. Ruined house
11. Pan, families living on the street
12. Girl playing in the rubble of house.
13. Family shelter
14. Family inside shelter
15. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Esmeralda Huaman, homeless resident:
"I ask for all my Pisqueno (local) brothers who are suffering, but more importantly I ask for the children that are sick, that have no food, that have no water. There are a lot of people in Pisco that have no food. I beg in the name of the people of Pisco."
16. People cooking on an open fire
17. Family by ruined house
18. Plant blowing in the wind in foreground, family in background
STORYLINE:
Life is hard on the streets of the gritty port city of Pisco on Peru's central coast, where a magnitude-8 earthquake struck off the central coast on August 15, killing more than 500 people and destroying 40-thousand homes.
Thousands live in makeshift shelters, often crudely constructed wooden shells covered in plastic sheeting.
Icy ocean winds carry sand from the beaches and people keep watch all night against thieves.
Food is scarce. Adults say they are given a handful of rice with some potatoes at midday. Children are given hot oatmeal for breakfast.
"We lost everything, we have nothing but here we are," said Maria Zapata, camping with her children by their ruined house.
More than 85 percent of Pisco's homes were destroyed and at least 340 people were killed in the area, according to Civil Defence officials.
Wrapped in thick, scratchy blankets, survivors listen to the sound of the crackling fires that burn on one of the few street corners in the San Clemente district not blocked by dusty rubble.
Last week, a six-week-old infant died of pneumonia after sleeping with her family outside their badly-damaged home in the nearby province of Canete.
Family members were worried that the house would topple over from one of the strong aftershocks, which continued for days.
They complained that humanitarian aid did not reach them.
"I ask for all my Pisqueno (local) brothers who are suffering, but more importantly I ask for the children that are sick, that have no food, that have no water. There are a lot of people in Pisco that have no food. I beg in the name of the people of Pisco," one homeless resident Esmeralda Huaman said.
President Alan Garcia announced this week that electricity had returned to much of the devastated region. But large areas of Pisco remain without power. Bonfires illuminate the shadows in the tent cities on its outskirts.
The government has said that rebuilding coastal towns will cost about 220 (m) million US dollars (162 (m) million euros).
Almost no-one sleeps the night through. Fearing more aftershocks or simply traumatised, they wait for dawn, when they wander through the mist, wrapped in sheets, searching for food and water for their children.
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