Wave of refugees quits Peru quake ruins

PISCO, Peru (AFP) - The giant quake that wrecked this Pacific coastal town last week has set off a wave of refugees, driving up to 40 percent of its people to quit their ruined homes and move away, the Peruvian government said Wednesday.

"Between 30 and 40 percent of the inhabitants have been forced to leave" Pisco, which formerly had a population of 130,000 people, Social Development and Women's Affairs Minister Virginia Borra told AFP.

"There are no official figures that identify the scale of the problem," she said, stressing her number was an estimate. A census is under way of the towns affected by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake -- of which Pisco was worst hit.

The quake killed 540 people in the area, according to an official toll, and destroyed around 85 percent of Pisco, leaving residents camping amid the ruins as the threat of disease and the stench of bodies under the rubble grew.

"It's definitely no longer possible to find any survivors," fire chief Alberto Marticorena told AFP as teams continued combing the wreckage. At least two more bodies were pulled form the rubble of a hotel Wednesday.

More bodies were believed to be under the ruins of the Embassy hotel, frequented by backpackers, which buried an unknown number of people when it collapsed.