MONTEVIDO: Travellers arriving here today [Jan 17] declare that the death toll in the San Juan earthquake has reached 5,000.

Colonel Emilio Ramirez, Buenos Aires Police Chief, stated that San Juan and the small neighbouring communities of Trinidad and Concepcion can be regarded as “totally destroyed”.

Scenes of panic were witnessed in the city of San Juan (Argentina) during a violent earthquake last night. The shock lasted only three minutes. The number of victims is believed to be high.

Homeless people are now camping out in public squares of the city. San Juan is a city of approximately 25,000 inhabitants. President Ramirez ordered immediate help to be sent from the provinces of Mendoza and Cordoba. A train taking doctors, nurses and medical supplies left Mendoza shortly after midnight.

Phone reports from Mendoza announce that the earthquake principally affected the south-eastern region of the province of San Juan. The local observatory announced that the quake began with an intense quivering of the seismograph’s needles followed by subterranean rumblings and seismic shocks of less intensity. San Juan, according to latest information, is now without light or electricity. The unofficial estimate is that 90 per cent of the buildings are destroyed.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2019