[X] My Assistant

[Marco]

A strong earthquake lasting more than a minute has hit southern Peru, killing at least 47 people and injuring hundreds.

Civil defence officials said 17 people had died in the country's second city, Arequipa - 750km south-east of Lima - while another 14 had been killed in Moquegua, 100km further south.

Correspondents say the number of casualties is expected to rise when contact is made with more remote rural areas.

The quake struck about 600km south-east of the Peruvian capital Lima at 1533 local time (2033 GMT) on Saturday and sent residents fleeing from their homes in panic.

It had a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale and its epicentre was in the Pacific Ocean close to the Peruvian coast, according to the US National Earthquake Information Centre in Golden, Colorado.

The Peruvian Geophysical Institute, however, reported that the tremor measured 6.9 and that the epicentre was some 80km inland.

Chile and Bolivia also felt the earthquake. In northern Chile, 30 people were injured, four of them seriously.

There have been no immediate reports of fatalities or property damage in Bolivia.

Many Peruvians phoned in to radio stations, frantic for news of their family members in affected areas.

Some callers say that there are thousands of people homeless in southern Peru. Many areas have lost power and communications.

The heaviest damage is said to have occurred in Arequipa, known as Peru's "white city" because of its fine colonial architecture and churches.

Television pictures showed that one of the towers of the city's cathedral had collapsed, scattering rubble in the street, and another was badly damaged and threatening to fall.

Two Peruvian cargo planes with 22 tons of food, blankets and medicine were on their way to Arequipa.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1404826.stm

I felt the earthquake, it was terrible.

[Commander Wymsy]

Dealing with the aftermath of big earthquakes can be really rough, these people have my sympathy.

Must've been terrible feeling that earthquake Marco.

[Marco]

Yeah, it was terrible.
540 people have died until now, and there's a lot of corpses that haven't been found yet...

[Liquefy]

I haven't heard about that yet. That's terrible, though. I can already predict what Reverend Fred Phelps will say. He claims to be a Christian, but he's more like a satanist. His entire family is just as bad. They say that natural disasters and the Taliban are God's wrath striking the perverted minds of homosexuals and "Fag Enablers", so I already know their new anti-Peruvian speech. They did the same thing with Sweden.

"The people of Peru were killed by God in order to send the people a message -- repent from your perverted ways or he'll strike you with death once more!"

His daughter for real said that all of the people killed in Iraq and the twin towers deserved it. That family makes me sick, and they're the reason why the small amount of extremely conservative Christians get heard. It's sickening.

[Aeroy]

thats horrible. I dint hear about that.

And that Phelps' daughter sounds like a bitch.

And her dad, actually.

But seriously, that sucks. Good luck to all the Peruvian people.

Aeroy

[Marco]

Thanks you all for your nice words. =)

PD: Yeah, that Phelps' daughter really sounds like a bitch.

[Guest_北海の鬼_*]

I don't mean to be funny or anything, but why is this in debates?

[Commander Wymsy]

I don't mean to be funny or anything, but why is this in debates?

I didn't even notice it was in here....

Right....

*moves*

[Zerxer]

Were we supposed to debate over whether they deserved it or not? Because I'm pretty sure it'd be a pretty one-sided debate, unless of course that Reverend Phelps joined in.

Poor people. I've never felt an earthquake, I'm paranoid enough about tornadoes coming and whisking me away. Although.. I'd love to meet the little fellas on that yellow brick road.

[aurelio]

im peruvian and i know that a lot of people died,
saturday march 28 there was another earthquake but dont kill people

[Lester Burnham]

im peruvian and i know that a lot of people died,
saturday march 28 there was another earthquake but dont kill people

Alright, the last post was in August. I know it's on topic, but just post another one.