Peru quake hit rural areas hard

CANETE, PERU -- The villagers of Las Palmas set up camp in a pasture next to the cow and goat pens, pitching tepee-like tents fashioned of branches and plastic scraps.

Women take turns at a communal outdoor kitchen preparing food for residents of this irrigated oasis, a patch of green amid the unforgiving coastal desert that stretches south from the capital Lima.

Last week's 8.0 magnitude earthquake smashed a broad swath of Peru, collapsing thousands of buildings from the coast to the high Andes. The adobe homes of all 46 families in Las Palmas were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable.

"Everyone is pitching in to help out," said Victor Ramirez, a village elder in this isolated agricultural hamlet. "The most important thing is that the children and the old people get something to eat, and that they have blankets at night."

Much of the public attention since the Aug. 15 temblor has focused on the devastated city of Pisco, where most of the more than 500 fatalities occurred.

But, as inspectors have edged out into the countryside, it has become clear that the damage there is overwhelming, even though the number of casualties is lower. Reaching many hard-hit rural areas on buckled, debris-laden roads can be a challenge.
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