Quake death toll tops 2,160 |
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/05/26 11:09 Shanghai Daily |
The death toll from a devastating earthquake in northern Algeria rose to more than 2,160 yesterday, hours after furious crowds hurled debris and insults at the country's president when he visited the quake zone. Many blame the government for the high death toll and shortages of food and water after the 6.8-magnitude quake flattened villages east of Algiers on Wednesday night. The Interior Ministry said at least 2,162 people were killed and 8,965 injured. The death toll was expected to rise as bodies were pulled from the rubble and Hakim Mohand, of the Algerian civil protection unit, said it could reach 3,000. The anger came as Japanese rescue workers said they pulled a survivor - a 21-year-old waiter - from the rubble of a hotel on the Mediterranean coast at midnight Friday. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika tried to tour the quake-ravaged town of Boumerdes on Saturday, but angry crowds harangued him with shouts of "pouvoir assassin!" - a common slogan roughly translated as "the authorities - killers." Bouteflika cut his visit short. Police fought to hold back the crowd as he drove away, with many people throwing chunks of rubble and other objects at his car and some kicking the cars in his motorcade. The president faced similar anger later in the day in Lakhdaria, where one elderly protester loudly accused the government of misappropriating international aid meant for quake victims. He later shrugged off the protests, calling them "testimony to the vitality of Algerian youth." Amid the strife and destruction, Japanese aid workers - after three hours of digging through the wrecked Adim Beach Resort at Zemmouri - rescued a man who somehow had escaped injury. "It was almost a miracle. He was unscathed," said Toshimitsu Ishigure, director of the Japanese Overseas Disaster Assistance. "He was able to breathe because he had a half-foot of space from a slab lying on top." Hope of finding further survivors, however, was evaporating. Ishigure said rescues became far less likely more than 72 hours after a quake. |
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