Rescuers hunt for survivors from aftershock

REGHAIA, Algeria --

 Algerian and French rescuers with dogs searched Wednesday for survivors in the rubble of an apartment block that collapsed in a powerful aftershock to last week's earthquake.

The 15-story building in Reghaia had been damaged in the May 21 earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people and injured nearly 9,500 others.

The building had been evacuated, but some of its displaced residents were inside recovering belongings when it collapsed Tuesday evening in a magnitude-5.8 aftershock that sowed fresh panic in the quake zone, east of the capital Algiers.

Interior Ministry official Mohamed Kendil said at least three people were inside, and neighbors identified at least six -- including a 17-year-old boy and a 42-year-old teacher of French.

"All I want to do is find his body. God willing, he will go to heaven," said Boudjid Said, 63, the father-in-law of the French teacher.

French rescue workers, who rushed to Algeria after last week's quake, used sniffer dogs to search through the slabs of concrete and mangled metal in a three-story mound.

Workers with circular saws labored to bore a hole in the wreckage to squeeze a dog into a cavity where there were thought to be air spaces that could hold survivors.

The dogs at one point barked twice, but their handlers couldn't tell if that meant they had found someone.

"We aren't sure because there are so many people on the site that it distracts the dogs," said Bruno Hardy, of the French team. "We don't have much hope."

After last week's powerful magnitude-6.8 temblor, the pillars of the building -- built in the late 1950s and known in Reghaia as "the 15th" -- were cracked, and its ground- and first-floor walls blown out.

People ventured back to get clothes and other items over the last few days, said Omar Cheiri, 48, a mechanic who lived in a nearby building rendered uninhabitable by the initial quake. "They were told it was dangerous, but they wanted to get their belongings," he said.

Then Tuesday's aftershock demolished the remnants of the building.

The building, visible from three to four miles away, was a landmark for the people of Reghaia. "I would drive back and see it and know I was almost home," Cheiri said. "We all cried when it was destroyed."

Algerian rescue workers used a crane to lift away cement slabs and bulldozers to move the rubble. French rescuers complained that the cleanup was too heavy-handed.

"We would have done things very differently. They are going too fast in removing rubble and cement slabs and risk missing a survivor," said Michel Rabaud, a member of the French civil protection team.

Kendil, the interior ministry secretary general, said on Algerian television that more than 200 people were injured in the aftershock, the strongest of several since the earthquake. Many of those who sought treatment in hospitals were suffering from shock and panic attacks, rather than physical injuries.

According to the government, last week's temblor killed at least 2,218 people and injured 9,497 others.

The aftershock also collapsed at least one home in the quake-ravaged town of Boumerdes, state radio said. In one Algiers hotel, panicked visitors ran out of the building. Another aftershock Wednesday morning sent people running into streets in Algiers, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Aftershocks have panicked survivors already left homeless and struggling with shortages of aid.

During Tuesday's aftershock, "everybody started running, screaming women were crying," said Elkacem Khedda, 23. "W

Kim Housego |ap | 5/29/2003 http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=16859