CHINCHA, Peru: Rescuers struggled across a shattered countryside yesterday to reach victims of a powerful earthquake that killed at least 355 people and injured 827. The Red Cross said the death toll was likely to rise.

The government rushed police, soldiers, doctors and aid to Ica, a city of 120,000 believed to be near the center of damage, but traffic to the area was paralyzed by giant cracks and fallen powerlines on the Pan American Highway south of Lima.

In Pisco, about 140 km southeast of Lima, "the dead are scattered by the dozens on the streets", and at least 200 people were buried under the rubble of a collapsed church, said Juan Mendoza, mayor of Pisco, in an interview with Lima radio station CPN.