Death Toll Reaches 900 in El Salvador Quake

The death toll reached 900 from the powerful earthquake that jolted El Salvador in Central America Saturday, sparking landslides and destroying thousands of homes.

A total of 900 people have died and some 1,830 so far have been reported injured from the 7.6-magnitude quake that damaged over 32, 000 houses, Salvadoran officials was quoted by TV broadcast report as saying, adding that nearly 18,000 people were evacuated from their homes.

The number of the dead and the injured is expected to rise as rescue efforts continue around the clock throughout the night to retrieve bodies from the debris of collapsed buildings amid a wave of aftershocks.

"Every hour we receive reports about new victims and new destruction. We hope that by the end of the day, we'll have a picture of the scope of the tragedy," said Luis Lopez Portillo, a presidential spokesperson for El Salvador, according to reports reaching here.

A total of 229 people were killed when a mountain of rock and earth tumbled down on the Las Colinas neighborhood in Santa Tecla region, where more than 420 people lost their lives in the quake.

The quake caused over 180 landslides across El Salvador, burying houses and blocking roads. Many towns can only be reached by helicopters, and little is known about damages in the isolated communities, reports said.

With black body bags piled up on sidewalks and hillsides throughout El Salvador, weeping relatives buried their loved ones, staring blankly at the ground. The Salvadoran government has ordered 3,000 coffins from Colombia and is planning mass burials.

Throughout the night, families slept in the streets in fear of new seismic activities. Many are living with relatives or in shelters.

In many areas, electricity and water was disrupted to nearly half of the 6.2 million population in this small Central American country.

The quake, with the epicenter lying about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of the capital San Salvador, was felt across El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and even as far as Mexico city.

Guatemala reportedly found six dead, while other Central American nations reported no fatalities.






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