(24 Sep 1998) Spanish/Nat

As Hurricane Georges threatens the Florida Keys, there's only devastation left behind in the Dominican Republic.

A mudslide has devastated a school near the capital Santo Domingo, killing at least 40 people.

That's in addition to more than 70 people who died during the brunt of the hurricane.

The landslide came the same day that Dominican President Leonel Fernandez appeared on national television to announce that hundreds of people were still missing.

He estimated it would take 113 (m) million U-S dollars to rebuild the country's electrical power system alone.

The sprawling storm that began its rampage on Monday has left a trail of destruction in its wake.

The debris of destroyed planes, tossed around by the hurricane, have been left lying in fields.

Entire housing estates and small towns have been wiped out.

Rescuers throughout the Dominican Republic have had to pull bodies from rivers, collapsed houses and mudslides.

Officials have not even begun to reach the Dominican Republic's hardest-hit areas, where many more victims are expected to be found.

People are crying out for government help.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Please, the government help us because we haven't seen anything. Children are dying of hunger and we are practically inside the River Sama. We have nothing, we don't have anything, we don't have anything."
SUPER CAPTION: Maria Rodriguez, Hurricane victim

Inside the morgues survivors and relatives arrived to identify loved ones.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"There were 48 of us inside a small house and then a rock hit the house from outside and then the house caved in."
SUPER CAPTION: Julio Almanzar, Relative of hurricane victims

In the town of San Cristobal, the Nizao River overflowed its banks and knocked down a part of a school being used as a shelter.

Five people were killed and 45 others remain missing.

President Leonel Fernandez spoke of the country's predicament and the tragic loss of life.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"In its path of destruction hurricane George has killed 70 people that we know of, there are 100 still missing, including 45 in the area of Canveta when a school that served as a refuge was destroyed. There are also 100-thousand destroyed buildings - including an
estimated 20-thousand in the zone Cristobal and 10-thousand in the federal zone."
SUPER CAPTION: Leonel Fernandez, President of the Dominican Republic

Fernandez asked for unity and urged people to attend church on Thursday, the holy day for the nation's patron saint, Mercedes.

The government has declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Soldiers and police have orders to arrest anyone on the streets after drunken looters raided stores and damaged homes.

In the meantime, people must begin the long and arduous task of rebuilding their lives.

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