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Algerians in terror of new tremors
ALGIERS, Algeria -- Algeria continued to be hit by strong aftershocks Wednesday, a week after a devastating earthquake killed about 2,200 people and injured 9,000. The ground shook again Wednesday morning following a stronger tremor Tuesday evening that was believed to have killed at least three people and injured more than 180. There were no reported injuries from Wednesday's quake. "People were having breakfast and then all of a sudden everything shook, the plates, the glasses, the cutlery. I heard one person say 'not again,'" said a Reuters correspondent in the capital Algiers. The new quakes have put further pressure on hospitals and other essential services along the Mediterranean coast of the northern African country following the May 21 disaster. Many international rescue teams pulled out on Monday and Tuesday after ending their search for survivors, leaving only aid and health workers to recover bodies and care for the estimated 20,000 people who were left homeless. Officials are asking people to stay calm and to avoid unsafe buildings. "Don't panic. It's a strong aftershock (from the May 21 quake)," a spokesman for Algeria's Geophysical, Astronomical and Astrophysics Research Center told Reuters Wednesday. He said there had been about 1,000 aftershocks since the first quake, which had a magnitude of 6.8 and killed at least 2,218 people, according to official figures. That toll could rise with hundreds unaccounted for under collapsed apartment buildings. Tuesday's tremor struck Algeria's capital and Mediterranean cities to the east at 1711 GMT (1:11 p.m. ET). Deputy Interior Minister Mohamed Guendil told Algerian state television that reports from witnesses indicated three people were killed when a 15-storey apartment block collapsed in the town of Reghaia.
Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni told state radio the aftershock had caused "significant damage." Journalist Elias Temlali, of Algerian State Television, told CNN there had been some damage to buildings in Algiers. "Some buildings that were damaged by the first earthquake fell down," he said. "People just ran outside then everything returned to normal. People knew very well that it was just an aftershock." On Saturday, angry crowds pelted Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika with debris and insults when he tried to tour villages devastated by the earthquake. (Full story) Because of its location on the boundary between two of the Earth's tectonic plates, the Eurasian and the African, Algeria experiences many destructive quakes. In October 1980, a 7.1 earthquake struck the city of El Asnam (known today as Ech-Cheliff) and killed at least 5,000 people. That city is about 220 kilometers (136 miles) from the May 21 quake. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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