From the International Desk
Published 5/24/2003 6:11 PM
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ALGIERS, Algeria, May 24 (UPI) -- Public backlash swelled Saturday as Algerians grew frustrated with they believe to be the government's fumbling after a massive earthquake killed or buried over 10,000 citizens of the North African country on Wednesday.

In Bourmedes, a coastal city that suffered the worst of temblor's energy, jeering residents surrounded and kicked President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's car as he passed by on a tour of the damage Saturday afternoon.

The latest Interior Ministry estimates say 1,136 people were killed and 2,661 wounded just in Bourmedes, which lies about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the capital Algiers. So far, 1,875 are listed as having died and another 8,081 injured in the earthquake, Algerian television reported late Saturday.

As the death toll mounts toward 2,000 so has Algerians' frustration. Local Arabic and French-language newspapers were filled Saturday with editorials that condemned everything from substandard building practices to the ineptness of government officials in coordinating rescue efforts.

"Algerians would credit to his (Bouteflika's) just heroism the promptness of which -- in moments as tragic as these that call for and test national dignity -- a responsible state that mobilizes itself, in men and in means, to bring the necessary relief, to organize rescue operations, to save lives, to coordinate efforts toward solidarity both national and international," lashed out the daily Le Matin. Instead the victims have received "nothing but silence," it continued, and a declaration of mourning that carries only "empty hands and despair in the face of buried bodies."

"The ones truly responsible are those who issued building permits even when the area to be built upon is located in marshes," slammed another French-language daily, L'Expression.

At a magnitude of 6.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the temblor is the worst experienced by Algeria since 1980, when about 3,000 died. The butting of two continental plates, the African and Eurasian pieces of Earth's crust, in northwest Africa make Algeria and the surrounding region geologically unstable.

Several foreign journalists have reported hearing cries under the rubble even in the last 24 hours, but frantic relatives and rescue workers have been unable to reach them. Diggers did pull free a 2-year-old girl still alive on Friday in a rescue her ecstatic family called miraculous.

Rescue teams and aid continued to land in Algiers on Saturday. Morocco sent specially trained dogs and handlers as well as six airplanes full of some 15,000 blankets, 1,000 tents and other supplies, reported Moroccan radio.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua said China sent its first rescue team ever to an international earthquake emergency. The 30-man team was led by the deputy director of the country's seismological offices.

Some rescuers have complained they have mobilized only to be dismissed at the scene, but workers and residents alike continued Saturday what have become last-ditch efforts to find and save those who may still be alive under flattened homes and businesses.

The epicenter of Wednesday's quake was about 70 kilometers, or 45 miles, east of Algiers, which rattled for several seconds with the powerful shift of continental plates below. It was felt as far away as Spain, across the eastern Mediterranean from Algeria.