Peru quake toll could pass 500: president

LIMA (AFP) - The death toll following the worst earthquake to hit Peru in decades could rise to more than 500, President Alan Garcia said yesterday.
 
As of dawn yesterday "the toll was of 497 dead," said Garcia. "There is not yet a figure that we can call official, but possibly it could be more than 500, unfortunately," he said.

Garcia said he was in Pisco yesterday when a body was recovered from the city's San Clemente church, which collapsed as hundreds of mourners attended a funeral service.

"According to rescuers and firefighters, there are still dozens of bodies below" the rubble, he said.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said Wednesday's quake was a rare and powerful 8.0 on the Moment Magnitude scale.