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MORE SHOCKS: A weeping woman holding on to her baby as an aftershock hits their makeshift camp in Chincha, Peru, on Friday. -- PHOTO: AFP
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PISCO (PERU) - PERU has deployed additional soldiers to quell widespread looting in quake-hit areas after delays in aid distribution increased the desperation of survivors.
Mobs on Saturday looted trucks carrying food and water in Pisco, the town hardest hit by Wednesday's 8.0-magnitude earthquake.
Some people tried to break into the air force base where relief efforts have been centralised.
Other survivors attempted to raid a food store, but the mob was chased off when the owners fired their weapons into the air.
Close to the provincial capital Ica, another mob tried to raid a convoy of trucks carrying emergency supplies.
And in nearby Chincha, a group of people tried to break into a hospital, believing it held emergency food supplies, said hospital director Jorge Barrera.
President Alan Garcia has threatened to impose a curfew to stop looting in quake-hit areas. 'I have ordered police to use the harshest measures. Whoever tries to cause a disturbance is going to face the consequences,' he said.
Despite the presence of a number of food distribution points, little aid seemed to be getting to the nearly 80,000 people affected by the quake.
Military trucks carrying supplies were swarmed on Saturday by dozens of people in Pisco, and survivors fought over cans of tuna and cartons of milk.
Victims say food and water supplies are taking too long to reach them. They also accuse stores of raising prices to cash in on the shortages.
Some complain of not being able to reach camps where the government and agencies are distributing relief supplies.
Many rural communities were still not reachable, said Mr Dominic Nutt, an emergency assessment team member.
'The situation may be worse than first imagined,' he said.
The death toll has exceeded 500, and hopes for finding survivors have dwindled.
A rescuer pulled a 10-month-old boy from the ruins of a collapsed church in Pisco seven hours after the quake, reports said on Saturday.
In Pisco's makeshift hospital, a baby boy was born on Friday, prompting President Garcia to call him 'a breath of life, a miracle amid crumbling walls and the pain'. The baby has been named Jesus.
ASSOCIATED PRESS,
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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