New Temblor Panics Many in Quake-Weary El Salvador

A strong earthquake rattled El Salvador’s capital Saturday, killing at least one person and fraying nerves in a nation stricken by two disastrous quakes and thousands of aftershocks this year.

Crowds of people, some weeping, ran into the streets after the latest quake hit with a thud about 2:25 p.m., sending clouds of dust rising from the crater of the San Salvador volcano overlooking the city.

The government reported one death and three injuries and said the quake set off scattered landslides. Two people were pulled alive from the ruins of a house in Apopa, north of San Salvador, the capital.

The quake had a magnitude of 5.3 and was centered just south of the capital, the National Emergency Committee said. It created further anxiety for El Salvador, where two earlier quakes killed more than 1,200 people.

“If we are going to die, let us die now,” said taxi driver Daniel Santos, fed up with the shuddering earth. “This is torture.”

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake on Jan. 13 killed at least 844 people and damaged or destroyed 278,000 buildings. Exactly one month later, a magnitude 6.6 quake killed at least 402, injured 3,153 and destroyed 45,000 buildings.

There have been thousands of aftershocks, several of them with a magnitude of 5 or greater.

“I’m panicked. I feel like we’ve been afflicted,” said Esmeralda Mendoza, 26. She stood almost frozen outside a pharmacy, still trembling almost an hour after Saturday’s quake. “This is going to finish off El Salvador.”

With the national government bombarded with complaints of sluggishness and overwhelmed by red tape, local mayors have been taking charge--an unusual step in a highly centralized country.

Local officials in one neighborhood, where hundreds died in a landslide set off by the January quake, began negotiating with foreign donors and distributing aid before national leaders could react.

After a brief squabble, the national government announced that aid would be channeled through mayors. Several mayors were attacked by mobs of desperate disaster victims who believed that aid was being withheld.