Death and disbelief in a hard-hit city

PISCO, PERU — It's a war zone here, a jumble of smashed buildings, downed power lines and dazed inhabitants.

Authorities have bolstered police patrols after reports of looters attacking vehicles ferrying aid to the earthquake zone.

"People are just completely demoralized," said Maria Consuelo Vargas, as she and hundreds of others gathered Friday in the central Plaza de Armas to watch rescue workers combing through the debris of what once was San Clemente Roman Catholic Church.

As if on cue, firemen pulled another black body bag from the rubble of the church, eliciting a stunned gasp from residents bewildered by their town's fate.

All day, rescue workers had been retrieving corpses from the ruins, yelling "adult male" or "female child" or "woman" to anxious loved ones waiting in the plaza for word on the missing.

The latest body brought the number of dead to 85 at San Clemente, according to media accounts here, leaving the church the single deadliest spot in the 8.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Peru on Wednesday. At least 486 people were killed, according to the last official count. President Alan Garcia said the death toll would rise above 500. An estimated 1,500 people have been injured, about one-third seriously.

The temblor struck as evening services were being held on the Roman Catholic holy day of the Assumption. The concrete roof caved in on church-goers at San Clemente, trapping victims in the rubble. Casualties were reported at other damaged churches as well.

Pisco, a coastal city 155 miles south of Lima, the capital, and surrounding areas accounted for about 70% of the government's tally of the dead.

Large amounts of aid began arriving Friday in Pisco, but distribution remained a problem. Much of the aid -- including food, water, medical supplies and clothing -- was ferried via military and police aircraft through a nearby Peruvian air force base.

Residents and others have complained about the slow pace of aid, and looters have become a problem. Taxi drivers warn visitors of lurking thieves in a city where all order seems to have collapsed. Reports have circulated of bands of robbers targeting shops and aid vehicles.

President Garcia urged residents not to succumb to "exaggerated desperation," while hecklers in the crowd shouted they had been abandoned by the government.