Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Rescue workers in Peru searched for survivors and state health workers struggled to treat hundreds of injured after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake toppled buildings along the southern coast, killing at least 60 people.

Peru's largest earthquake in more than 30 years forced the government to declare a state of emergency and prompted countries such as Mexico and Panama to pledge aid. It was the world's biggest quake since an 8.1 magnitude temblor stuck off the Solomon Islands in May, triggering a tsunami that killed 54 people.

At least 60 people were killed and 800 injured in the southern coastal town of Ica where buildings and a church collapsed, Mayor Mariano Quispe told Radioprogramas, a radio station based in the capital, Lima.

``There have been losses in the south,'' Peruvian President Alan Garcia said in a broadcast late yesterday on Radioprogramas.

Ten aftershocks of magnitude 5 or greater hit the area, including a magnitude 6.3 tremor at 0:16 a.m. Peru time, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.

Thousands of people chose to camp out on public squares rather than risk facing the aftershocks inside their homes. Looting was reported in several towns because of power and telephone outages.

Emergency Status

Police and state hospitals were placed on emergency status and schools suspended today, said Garcia, who held an emergency session of his Cabinet at the presidential palace late yesterday. Emergency services will review schools, roads and bridges today for damage, he said.

State doctors called off a strike to attend the injured, Health Minister Carlos Vallejos said.

Hospitals were overflowing with the injured in the southern coastal towns of Chincha, Canete and Ica, according to state news agency Andina. Ica's 16th century Senor de Luren church, one of the oldest in the Americas, collapsed late yesterday during Mass.

Jorge Chavez international airport in Lima canceled all domestic flights and City Hall closed coastal roads.

The temblor hit about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south- southeast of Lima, the USGS said. Tens of thousands of people evacuated office buildings in the capital's financial quarter of San Isidro.

Tsunami Alert

Fishermen battled heavy seas to drag their launches onto dry land south of Lima in response to a tsunami alert. The quake set off tsunami signals and advisories for Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Hawaii. The alerts were later canceled.

In the Chilean city of Santiago, dozens of passengers were stranded at the airport after Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, Brazil's second-largest airline, canceled a flight to Lima because of the quake, Television Nacional reported.

The quake was felt as far north as Colombia's capital, Bogota, and as far south as Coquimbo, Chile, about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from Lima. There were no reports of injuries or property damage, the Chilean Interior Ministry's National Emergency Office said on its Web site.

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake carries roughly as much energy as 199,000 tons of TNT, according to the USGS. That energy is spread out in waves and not in one particular spot.

Dale Grant, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, said it is the largest earthquake in Peru since 1974.

Original Source: Alex Emery, Bloomberg

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