Managua ablaze: looters active

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33110, 28 December 1972, Page 9

Managua ablaze: looters active

.\.Z. Press Association—Copyright) MANAGUA, December 27. The already-devastated centre of Managua was ablaze again last night, but this time the fires were apparently man-made, rather than caused by Saturday's massive earthquake.

No-one knows for sure what started the first fires, but General Anastasio Somoza, the leader of Nicaragua, has a theory . “They were caused by people hoping to obtain insurance money for their buildings.” he said. “Many businessmen had insurance against fire damage, but none against earthquake damage.”

The first blaze began about 4 p.m.. and by! dusk, three hours later, it was more dangerous than ever to walk through the badlydamaged area because of the burning buildings. But many survivors ignored the flames — and the 6 p.m. curfew im- j posed by martial law—to prowl through the streets in search of: food and water, or loot.' There is another report,’

unconfirmed, that the fires were started by looters who hoped to draw away from themselves the attention of National Guard patrols. : There have been several confrontations, most without serious injury, between looters and the National Guardsmen, who have had orders since Saturday to shoot looters on sight. • While looters fight among (themselves, rescue-workers are still burning bodies, and (patient vultures circle cverIhead. The stench of decomj posing bodies under the tropical sun is unbearable. ■ The latest official estimate

of the human toll in the city of 300,000 inhabitants is between 3000 and 6000 dead, and 20.000 injured. A supermarket, only partly damaged by the earthquake, was stripped by looters, who even took the shelves. A man stole one shoe.

Another went into the ruins of a pharmacy, and came out with a jar of hand cream, which he tried to eat. “We turn into animals when we get so hungry,” he said. “We’ll do almost anything to get something to eat.”

Owners of firearms carry them to protect their possessions.

Rescue - workers dug through the collapsed wall of a house, and found the decaying bodies of a woman and two children. They hauled the bodies into the street, split the heads, arms, and legs with machetes, and burned them in a petrol fire.

The woman’s brother stood by. crying.

A few thousand homeless people remain in the city, and the Government has ordered the Red Cross to stop food distribution in the centre of the devastated area, in an effort to speed the evacuation of the city.

Many of those who fled soon after the earthquake are returning in a bid to salvage possessions.