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CNN Live Sunday

Peru Begins Process of Recovery After Powerful Earthquake

Aired June 24, 2001 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to begin in southern Peru, where hundreds of people are now homeless and in need of food, warmth and comfort in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake that ripped through the region yesterday. It was centered about 120 miles west of Arequipa on the Pacific coast. The death toll has just been revised downwards to 38, although officials fear more dead as the search for survivors continues. Hundreds of others were injured in the 7.9 magnitude quake.

For the latest on it now, we check in with CNN's Harris Whitbeck, who joins us by telephone from the Peruvian capital of Lima -- Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Stephen, the Peruvian Civil Defense Institute released new figures that give a clearer picture of the magnitude of Saturday's earthquake. As you said, the death toll has been revised downward to 38. Nearly 900 people were injured and officials estimate that about 10,000 have been left homeless.

Rescuers continue searching for more victims and survivors of the magnitude 7.9 quake that hit dozens of communities in southern Peru. Doctors working in some outlying areas say they feel the final death toll might end up being higher than previously thought.

Many of the roads into the region have been cut off due to landslides and that is hampering some of the efforts to reach outlying communities that might have been affected. Both President Valentin Paniagua and President-elect Alejandro Toledo visited the region, and promised aid to those affected.

Temporary shelter for those left homeless is the most pressing need. This is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and temperatures in the hit area, which is at high altitude, can reach below freezing at night.

Material damage in some towns is quite extensive. In the colonial city of Arequipa, the landmark cathedral lost one of its towers. The church, which originally had been built in 1556, had been rebuilt in the late 1800s after it was destroyed by an earthquake. On Sunday, parishioners celebrated mass outside the cathedral. They were too afraid of the aftershocks to go inside -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: We've been showing pictures as you've been describing all this to us, Harris, and it looks like the damage is concentrated. But we understand that the president flew over the area to survey the damage; it took a plane to get him to see all of it.

WHITBECK: That's right, and that area of southern Peru is quite mountainous and again, one of the main concerns of rescue workers is that they haven't reached all the communities that were hit because of the problems with the roads in that part of southern Peru.

FRAZIER: In Lima, Harris Whitbeck. Harris, thank you for that update. We would like to get the latest now on relief efforts in southern Peru. And for that, we are joined by Ian Logan, who's with the International Committee of the Red Cross. He is with us by telephone from Geneva, Switzerland, which is, of course, the committee's headquarters.

Mr. Logan, thank you for joining us.

IAN LOGAN, INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS: You're welcome.

FRAZIER: What are you doing there?

LOGAN: Fortunately, we did have a team operating slightly to the north of earthquake area before it hit. So, we have people on the ground. They, as your correspondent said, are trying to beat the logistics and get down into that area to provide additional support to existing Red Cross -- Peruvian Red Cross associates that are on the ground and again, we are looking very much at this situation that was described as probably a lot of homeless people and they will be the ones, with the weather the way it is, to concentrate our attention.

FRAZIER: Sending your people in by road?

LOGAN: Yes, we've got -- they are already on the outskirts of the north and of course, as you know, we're having some difficulty. Some of the roads are cut, some of the bridges are cut, and that is going to take time, and they setting up back-up logistics and transport out of Lima. We'll probably have to do the same thing and look to an airlift.

FRAZIER: Now, we think of the Red Cross as providing tents and food, clean water, that sort of thing. Are you also involved in any of the search efforts?

LOGAN: Primarily, the search efforts are carried out by the Peruvian Red Cross or the local Red Cross within the country. We don't particularly specialize in that aspect or it. Rather, we're looking at these that have been rescued, have been brought out, and providing the immediate aid to them.

FRAZIER: And so, in that effort, do you then set up in large public spaces or are you going to create sort of a tent city even despite the temperatures there during the winter?

LOGAN: Well, it will probably be a combination of both. I think the most important thing is to make sure that there is at least some shelter from the elements. Normally, we would try to go to the most substantial, but we're already looking out of our base in Panama at reinforcing whatever facilities are there with tents, blankets, shelter materials, plastic sheeting; anything that can be used to provide shelter from the elements until we can stabilize the situation.

FRAZIER: And stabilizing, based on what you know now, how do you stabilize a situation like this? How much time do you need to do that?

LOGAN: Well, our most recent experience was in El Salvador, and the profile is very much the same as this. Look at the difference, clearly, the numbers started to go up quite a bit and basically, what we are tying to do is when we try to set up central points through Red Cross branches where we can, if you like, decentralized, individual group efforts and try to identify what would be the best solution for any given area. We're trying not to move people too far away. They prefer to stay reasonably close to their original homes, and we would look for a situation that would closely matching that.

FRAZIER: Well, we know as you move your people in there that they're risking their own lives because of the aftershocks; good luck to them and thank you, Mr. Logan, for bringing us up-to-date on relief efforts from the International Red Cross.

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