EL SALVADOR: POLICE RAISE KNOWN EARTHQUAKE DEATH TOLL TO 594 WITH 32,000 HOMES DESTROYED

Record ID: 584780

  • Title: EL SALVADOR: POLICE RAISE KNOWN EARTHQUAKE DEATH TOLL TO 594 WITH 32,000 HOMES DESTROYED
  • Date: 17th January 2001
  • Summary: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (JANUARY 15, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV BACKHOE DIGGING GRAVE; MV FAMILY MEMBERS WATCHING (3 SHOTS) 0.12 2. SLV VICTIM BEING BURIED; MV FAMILY MEMBERS WATCHING; SLV VICTIMS BEING BURIED; SCU MOTHER OF VICTIM CRYING; SLV VICTIMS BEING BURIED (6 SHOTS) 0.43 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF VICTIM SAYING "I recognised her by her back and her little nails. That is her, my daughter." 0.59 4. SLV PEOPLE LINING UP FOR AID; SCU GIVING OUT FOOD PACKETS; MV PEOPLE WAITING IN LINE (4 SHOTS) 1.25 5. SLV/SCU PEOPLE IN SHELTERS (3 SHOTS) 1.38 6. SCU EXTERIOR OF FIELD HOSPITAL 1.41 7. MV /SCU LINE OF PATIENTS/DOCTOR WORKING ON MAN WITH INJURED HAND (2 SHOTS) 1.53 USULUTAN, EL SALVADOR (JANUARY 15, 2001) (REUTERS) 8. SLV DESTROYED BUILDINGS; SLV PEOPLE CLEANING UP (3 SHOTS) 2.11 SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (JANUARY 15, 2001) (REUTERS) 9. MV PEOPLE IN SHELTERS (3 SHOTS) 2.24 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING "It is not the same as being at home, because here we are cold and we feel bad because we are not resting. But that is the will of God." 2.38 11. MV PEOPLE IN SHELTERS (3 SHOTS) 2.54 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SANTA TECLA AND SAN SALVADOR AND USULUTAN, EL SALVADOR
  • Country: El Salvador
  • Reuters ID: LVA8U460V4L0A59QV4QZES7ME2CB
  • Story Text: Police in El Salvador have raised the known death toll
    from the earthquake two days ago to 594 and said 32,000 homes
    had been partly or totally destroyed.

    A statement said another 1,830 people were injured in the
    quake that rocked El Salvador, Central America's tiniest
    nation with 6.2 million inhabitants.

    Grieving relatives began the heart-wrenching task of
    burying their loved ones on Monday, some in mass graves.

    "I recognised her by her back and her little nails. That
    is her, my daughter," said one suffering mother.

    Emergency workers unearthed scores of bodies in El
    Salvador on Monday (January 15) but found nobody alive as
    hopes faded of hauling out any more survivors of Saturday's
    (January 13) quake.

    An estimated 800 aftershocks of up to 5 magnitude over the
    last three days throughout Central America's smallest nation
    after Saturday's 7.6-magnitude quake.

    Throughout the nation, families slept overnight on streets,
    huddled around makeshift fires, fearing fresh seismic activity
    would bring down their homes.

    Thousands of other families flocked to local shelters where
    they received food and clothing, while field hospitals were
    set up to tend to the injured.

    "It is not the same as being at home, because here we are
    cold and we feel bad because we are not resting. But that is
    the will of God," said one homeless man.

    Increasingly authorities ordered large earth
    remover-vehicles to plow through mud, tree limbs and destroyed
    homes to begin the process of reconstruction of this coffee-
    and sugar-growing nation of 6.2 million people that is
    slightly smaller than the state of Massachusetts.

    The quake, whose epicenter was off the Pacific coast,
    about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of the capital, San
    Salvador, affected areas throughout the country and was felt
    in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras and as far north as
    Mexico City.


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