At least 50 people were killed and more than 800 injured by an earthquake which rocked southern Peru on Saturday.
It flattened villages, damaged buildings and knocked out telephone and electricity services. Thousands spent the night sleeping outdoors in parks and streets as more than 70 aftershocks continued to hit the area. The earthquake was also felt in Chile and Bolivia.
In Arequipa, Peru's elegant second city, known as the "white city" because of the volcanic stone with which many of its fine buildings are faced, the streets were strewn with rubble.
One of the towers of the 19thcentury cathedral in the main square collapsed, another was damaged, and walls and roofs collapsed in clouds of dust all over the city. Mr Juan Manuel Guillen, the mayor, said: "The damage is enormous."
The city centre was the worst affected, and about 70 per cent of buildings in the city, 1,000 km south of Lima, had been damaged in some way. In Moquegua, a mining city, 80 per cent of the buildings were damaged. Casualty figures were expected to rise as telephone links were restored.
Earthquake specialists at the Peruvian Geophysics Institute said the earthquake measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, but the US Geological Survey said it reached 7.9, which if confirmed would make it one of the strongest earthquakes to hit Peru in the past 100 years.
Peru sits on a seismic fault and has suffered a succession of earthquakes over the centuries.
President Valentin Paniagua flew to the affected area late on Saturday with two cargo planes carrying medicines, blankets and a field hospital.
President-elect Mr Alejandro Toledo suspended a tour of the US and several European countries, due to begin today, saying he would go to the south "to give a hand to the people affected". He said he wanted to see the damage at first hand so he could ask for international aid during his tour.
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