Powerful Earthquake Rocks Peru

Aug. 16, 2007 — -- Daylight in Peru revealed a picture as frightening as the earthquake itself. Bodies lined the streets, tears lined the faces of the survivors and Peru's only road to the south lies cracked in half.

As hundreds of the dead were pulled from the rubble in towns and villages along Peru's southern coast, authorities say the death toll is certain to grow higher.

In Chincha, a grandmother showed ABC's David Muir the ruins of what was once her bedroom, where she was holding her newborn granddaughter when the quake hit. They both survived.

"The walls were caving in around us," she said, holding the baby in disbelief.

Some families weren't so lucky. Another bedroom ceiling caved in on top of a 2-week-old baby and her mother. Only the infant survived.

"We don't know what to do with the baby," a cousin told Muir.

As she described the baby's mother, other family members arrived carrying her body in a coffin.

Authorities say the death toll is so great because so many of the homes along the coast are made of mud and brick that are too weak to withstand the power of an earthquake.

In many places, there is no water, sewage system, power or shelter. What will happen to the survivors?

"They will go outside. They will be at the mercy of the weather," the mayor of Chincha said.

Further south in the port city of Pisco, hospitals are overwhelmed with thousands of wounded people -- but without power doctors' hands are tied.

Despite the shock, many Peruvians say they can't believe they survived -- the grandmother of the newborn baby among them. With her house in ruins tonight, she's still holding her granddaughter, and they're both alive.