EARTHQUAKE IN PERU

A powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake has hit the coast of Peru, killing at least 337 people and injuring hundreds more, Peru's civil defence institute says.

All but one of the deaths were in the coastal province of Ica, about 265km (165 miles) south of the capital, Lima.

President Alan Garcia said he was sending three cabinet ministers to the worst affected area.
The earthquake struck at 1841 (2341 GMT) on Wednesday and lasted for several minutes.

The US Geological Survey said the epicentre was beneath the Pacific Ocean, about 145km (90 miles) south-east of Lima. Four strong aftershocks ranging from 5.4 to 5.9 followed, the organisation said.

Rush-hour traffic in Lima came to a halt as buildings shook with the force of the powerful tremors and hundreds of people spilled onto the streets. Low-lying coastal areas in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia were evacuated after a tsunami alert was issued, but the warning was later withdrawn. Deputy Health Minister Jose Calderon described the situation in the city of Ica, where 650,000 people live, as "dramatic".

The National Institute for Civil Defence said 336 people had been killed in the province and 827 others injured. One person was killed in Lima.

TV reports said 17 people were killed and dozens injured when the Senor de Luren church in Ica collapsed during evening mass.

Callers to Radio Programas del Peru (RPP) said many homes in poor neighbourhoods in Ica and nearby Chincha had collapsed and that several cities had no electricity. The town of Pisco, 60km east of the epicentre, was also badly affected.

Hospitals are reported to be overwhelmed by the number of casualties. A cameraman for the Associated Press said the floors of the hospital in Chincha were covered with dead bodies.
The mayor of Ica, Mariano Nacimiento, said he had asked the government for medicine, blankets, tents and all help that could be given. The weather in the region is very cold at the moment.

Rescuers have struggled to reach Ica, however, as parts of the Pan-American Highway have been blocked by huge cracks in the tarmac and fallen power lines.

N.Y. TWISTED

The first world is not free of the weather climate change. That's right, Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore - you're in Brooklyn! (N.Y., USA)

A tornado hit the Borough of Kings yesterday, leaving a path of shredded rooftops, splintered trees and wrecked cars from Bay Ridge to Sunset Park.

The weather phenomenon more often associated with the Midwest than the Big Apple struck just after 6:30 a.m. amid a furious thunderstorm. For several minutes it swept across the southwestern part of Brooklyn with winds as high as 135 mph, according to the National Weather Service.



The storm uprooted 217 trees - 174 in Brooklyn alone - damaged 40 homes and wrecked as many as 200 cars, officials said.

And it dumped as much as 3½ inches of rain in parts of the city in a matter of hours - crippling the city's transportation system and creating a nightmare for commuters trying to get to work.

Officials recorded one storm-related death - that of a New Jersey woman whose car stalled in high water beneath a Staten Island overpass, was rear-ended and burst into flames.

Police arrested the other driver, Yahov Raihshtein, 58, for operating with a suspended license.

For the most part, however, the first twister in New York City since 1995 - and the first in Brooklyn since 1889 - left little more than torn-up roofs and shattered nerves in its path.

BRIDGE DOWN IN USA

At least 7 people were killed when an interstate bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA) collapsed in what the governor called a "catastrophe of historic proportions."

The accident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) when dozens of cars were on the bridge.

Witnesses described a "dust cloud" as it collapsed, sending cars and and chunks of concrete plunging into the Mississippi River below.

At least 60 people were taken to local hospitals, according to Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack.

All survivors have been taken off the bridge, said Minneapolis police Chief Tim Dolan during a news conference Wednesday night. Crews have searched 50 cars and will be looking for more possible victims, but the mission has changed from a rescue to a recovery mode.

Recovery operations have ended for the night because conditions became dangerous for workers as darkness set in. "There's too much debris in the river to continue in the river tonight. We will at first light be back in the river working again," Clack said.

Mark Lacroix, who lives on the 20th floor of an apartment building near the bridge, told CNN he saw the last seconds of the collapse.

"I heard this massive rumbling and shaking basically and looked out my window," Lacroix said.

"It just fell right into the river."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it saw no indications of terrorism in the incident.

Construction took place on the bridge Tuesday night and was to take place again Wednesday night, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The highway would have been restricted to a single lane in both directions from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. both nights.

The bridge was undergoing redecking work, but nothing structural was being done, U.S. Transportation Department spokesman Brian Turmail said.

There were 8 construction workers on the bridge at the time of the collapse, and one of them is unaccounted for, said Mike McGray, president of Progressive Contractors, the company doing the repair work on the bridge.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said inspections of the 40-year-old bridge in 2005 and 2006 found no structural defects, but a 2001 study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation found "several fatigue problems" in the bridge's approach spans and "poor fatigue details" on the main truss.

The study suggested that the design of bridge's main truss could cause a collapse if one of two support planes were to become cracked, although it allowed that a collapse might not occur in that event. But, the study concluded, "fatigue cracking of the deck truss is not likely" and "replacement of the bridge ... may be deferred."

After the collapse, the nearby University of Minnesota Medical Center received "just a handful" of injuries from the accident, spokesman Ryan Davenport said.

"One of our hospitals has five patients so far, and the other on the other side of the river has none," he said.

Nancy Ebert of Northwestern Hospital said it had received four injured people -- two children and two adults.

Dr. Joseph Clinton, chief of emergency medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center, said the hospital is treating 28 injured people, six of them critically hurt.

He also said the hospital received one patient who was pronounced dead on arrival. "We have one drowning victim here, and I believe there are more drowning victims at the scene," he said.

Witnesses told CNN a school bus filled with children was on the bridge when it collapsed, but they also said the bus did not drop into the water and it appeared that all the children had been evacuated.

Jeff Pearson, regional vice president of First Student, Inc. -- which handles school buses in Minneapolis -- said that about 60 children, plus teachers, chaperones and a driver, were on the bus and that all were accounted for.

Aerial footage showed the middle of the bridge caved in, lying in the Mississippi River, with cars both on top and submerged in the water. The main part of the collapsed span was not submerged, but the span clearly separated from the land-based sections of the highway on both the north and south ends of the bridge.

A witness said it looked like "toy cars" were plunging into the water.

"I heard a terrible noise, and then I looked. It seemed like a piece of the bridge was pancaking and going down," said Janet Stately. "I said, 'Did we really see that? Did we really see that?' and it was unbelievable."

About 100,000 cars a day travel over the bridge, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

SPAIN BURNS

Las llamas siguieron ayer devorando Canarias. Ni los bomberos ni las tropas de la Unidad Militar de Emergencia del Ministerio de

Defensa lograron controlar los incendios que ya han arrasado más de 35.000 hectáreas.

Sin control y alentados por el viento, los fuegos se extendieron todavía más y obligaron a 14.000 personas a abandonar sus hogares. En Gran Canaria, 20.000 hectáreas de pinares han quedado convertidos en cenizas. La ministra de Medio Ambiente, Cristina Narbona, calificó de «suma alarma» la situación en Tenerife, donde se han perdido más de 15.000 hectáreas.

Mientras, el presidente del PP, Mariano Rajoy, atacó la «ineficacia» de un Gobierno que, en su opinión, es incapaz de «dar respuestas a los problemas», e insistió en pedir la creación de un Centro Nacional de Gestión de Crisis que haga frente a desastres como el de Canarias. Durante un acto público que tuvo lugar durante una visita al municipio malagueño de Mijas, Rajoy se mostró convencido de que «son demasiados los problemas a los que el Ejecutivo es incapaz de dar respuesta».«Se lo hemos advertido con los incendios», manifestó el máximo dirigente de los populares. «Hubo unos fuegos descomunales en Andalucía, en Galicia y en Guadalajara, y ahora los hay en Canarias y también en Andalucía».

Así, recordó que han trasladado al Ejecutivo «hasta la saciedad y en infinidad de ocasiones» la necesidad de la creación de un centro que se encargue de este tipo de emergencias a nivel nacional, ya que «un ayuntamiento o una comunidad no puede tener los medios para prevenir y atender las catástrofes que se pueden producir».«Queremos gobiernos que estén a la altura de las circunstancias», insistió Rajoy.

Desde que se originó el incendio de Gran Canaria, el pasado viernes, ya han sido evacuadas cerca de 14.000 personas. De ellas, 2.000 fueron desalojadas el lunes y la situación de alarma provocó ayer que otros 3.200 vecinos tuvieran que salir de sus casas de forma urgente.

No ha habido víctimas mortales pero, según el presidente del Gobierno insular, Paulino Rivero, se ha producido una auténtica «catástrofe natural».

En este sentido, la Fundación Canaria para la Reforestación Foresta estimó que el fuego ha destruido más de un tercio de la superficie forestal de Gran Canaria y ha puesto en riesgo la supervivencia de una treintena de especies de fauna y flora endémicas, informa Efe.

Entre ellas destacan los pinares naturales mejor conservados de la isla, que forman parte de la reserva natural integral de Inagua y del pinar de Ojeda, seriamente afectados. O los bosques de Icod y los municipios limítrofes, en Tenerife, que constituyen, por extensión, la mayor masa forestal de Canarias.

El fuego también quemó el 65% del parque zoológico y botánico Palmitos Park, en Gran Canaria, y afectó al 60% de las especies. Muchas de las aves tuvieron que ser soltadas.

Asimismo, dos soldados de la Unidad Militar de Emergencia (UME) resultaron heridos leves al volcar el vehículo autobomba con el que participaban en la extinción, aunque fueron dados de alta horas después y se reincorporaron al trabajo. Unos 300 militares de esta unidad especial trabajan repartidos a partes iguales en las dos islas.

La Consejería de Sanidad tuvo que reforzar la atención sanitaria en varios municipios. No fue en vano, porque 26 personas -además de los dos soldados- fueron asistidas en Gran Canaria y en Tenerife por heridas de diversa consideración relacionadas con los incendios. En general, fueron quemaduras leves, ampollas y cuadros de ansiedad, hipertensión y problemas respiratorios, aunque uno de los atendidos sufrió quemaduras de segundo grado.

Las infraestructuras también se vieron afectadas y casi una decena de carreteras fueron cerradas al tráfico en las cumbres de las dos islas.

El foco más intenso en Gran Canaria se encontraba en el municipio de San Bartolomé de Tirajana, mientras la situación mejoraba en Tejeda, Mogán y La Aldea de San Nicolás. La preocupación se centró en la zona alta del municipio de Santa Lucía, que estaba en alerta preventiva ante la posibilidad de que las condiciones meteorológicas dirigieran el fuego hacia el casco histórico.

Sin embargo, el presidente del Cabildo insular, José Miguel Pérez, anunció anoche la detención del avance de media decena de focos, dio el incendio por estabilizado y vaticinó que la situación iba a mejorar.

En Tenerife, el fuego se mantenía vivo en Los Realejos, Icod de Los Vinos, Santiago del Teide y Guía de Isora. Un nuevo conato se declaró por la noche en Tacoronte, al norte de la isla. El perímetro afectado era de 72 kilómetros. Un total de 8.500 vecinos fueron desalojados por la voracidad del fuego, que hizo que se perdieran las comunicaciones y la conexión de telefonía móvil en la zona de Bolicos.

Por su parte, el consejero de Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias, José Miguel Ruano, afirmó anoche que «existe la sospecha de que el incendio de Tenerife también pueda ser un fuego provocado», informa EfeDe la gravedad de los incendios habló Narbona, desplazada a Gran Canaria en un viaje de urgencia. La ministra anunció el envío de más medios aéreos y humanos de su Departamento, que se sumarán a los 400 efectivos, tres helicópteros, un avión y 13 vehículos que el Gobierno estatal ha movilizado ya.

La buena noticia fue que el incendio de La Gomera, que obligó a desalojar a 100 personas y quemó unas 60 hectáreas, ya está controlado.

Sin embargo, el fuego también dio problemas en la Península, sobre todo en Aldeadávila de la Ribera (Salamanca), en donde el alcalde advirtió a los vecinos de una posible evacuación por un incendio que anoche estaba a dos km. del casco urbano.