Rescuers search for signs of life in southwestern Peru

PISCO, Peru (CNN) -- Rescuers dug through rubble in the towns of southwestern Peru on Friday, searching for signs of life following Wednesday's 8.0-magnitude earthquake.

In Pisco, workers combed through the debris of a hotel where the owner said at least 35 of his guests were missing. The search for survivors on the site quickened earlier in the day, the owner said, when the brother of one of the guests received a text message from his missing sibling, still under the rubble.

The quake killed more than 500 people and injured more than 1,000, Peruvians officials said. The death toll is likely to rise, they said.

Aftershocks have rattled the ground each day since the collapse. The most recent -- with a magnitude of 4.9 -- rattled the region at about 4:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. ET) on Friday. It came eight hours after a 5.9-magnitude aftershock. A 6.3-magnitude aftershock struck early Thursday, hours after the main quake.

No injuries or damage from the aftershock were immediately reported, according to Reuters.

The most serious damage was suffered in areas along the country's Pacific coast south of Lima, the capital, including Chincha, Ica, Canete and Pisco.

A quarter of the buildings in Ica, a city of 120,000, were destroyed, The Associated Press reported.

In Pisco, the city's main Catholic church crumbled as the quake struck during a funeral. Soldiers and rescue workers Thursday night looked for 20 to 30 people believed trapped.

Meanwhile, funeral processions -- some serenaded by mariachi bands -- passed through the streets behind the struggling workers.

At least 60 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the church and lined up in the city's plaza, the AP reported. As many as 200 people were in the church when it broke apart, the town's mayor told the AP.

Earlier Thursday, Peruvian President Alan Garcia arrived by helicopter in Pisco, a city of 68,000, about 160 miles (257 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Lima. More than 17,000 homes -- 85 percent of the town -- collapsed.

Residents yelled, "Help us, help us," as Garcia passed by them.

At one point, the president saw several children wandering aimlessly.

"Oh, my God, who do these little children belong to?" he asked.

"The dead are scattered by the dozens on the streets. We don't have lights, water, communications. Most houses have fallen. Churches, stores, hotels -- everything is destroyed," Pisco Mayor Juan Mendoza told Lima radio station CPN, according to the AP.

Garcia declared a state of emergency and promised the government would "ensure that regional and local governments, civil defense institutions and ministries can spend what they need to, rapidly and immediately."

Ica residents said they had received no aid or even visits from government or aid officials.

The U.S. military said Friday it was dispatching a 30-member medical team from a base in Honduras to the quake-stricken area of Peru. More aid is available at the request of the Peruvian government, U.S. officials said.

The epicenter of the quake was in the Pacific Ocean about 30 miles west-northwest of Chincha, or about 90 miles south of Lima, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The capital, home to about 8 million people, was largely spared from damage, though the quake shook buildings and frightened residents. Two people reportedly were killed in the city.

"The ground was shaking so hard that I almost had to go to my knees to avoid falling," said Dan Brumbaugh, an American from Texas who ran from a building in Lima's financial district when the shaking started. "It was as if waves were going through the ground."

The U.S. Embassy in Lima confirmed that at least one American died in the quake, and it was trying to locate and assist other Americans, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.

Peruvian authorities initially struggled to get relief supplies into the area because highways were damaged by the earthquake. However, a spokesman for the Peruvian Embassy in Washington said later that road links had been reopened into the quake zone, allowing supplies to flow south from Lima and north from Arequipa.

Health Minister Carlos Vallejos described Pisco as "really in crisis." Watch how the quake ruined lives and turned buildings into rubble »

"There's aren't any buildings that are in good condition. Even the very modern buildings around the central plaza are totally destroyed," he told Andina Television. Water and electricity were out, and telephone service was "very limited," he said. See photos of the devastation »

Television stations pleaded with viewers not to use cell phones for routine communications to keep the airwaves open for emergency use.

The Peruvian Embassy spokesman, Vladimir Kocerha, said Peru probably will put out a call for international aid, "preferably monetary." The U.S. Agency for International Development offered $100,000 to meet immediate emergency needs.

Peru, like most of the South American Pacific coast, sits at the juncture of two tectonic plates, making the country prone to earthquakes. See a map of where the quake struck »

Since the quake struck Wednesday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey has detected nearly 20 aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from 4.5 to 6.3. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Harris Whitbeck and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

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All About Earthquakes • USGS National Earthquake Information Center • Lima (Peru)