Is there any charity taking contributions to help these
people and any other Peruvian towns also devastated
by this earthquake? I don't care if they are Catholic or
whatever. They are people and they need help.

Mourners killed in Peru church collapse

Church collapsed during quake while mourners gathered for a funeral
Mass Nuns gather, await word on two of their sisters

Bodies placed in Pisco's town center as residents try to identify
loved ones

Man holds wake for his mother in the street
By Harris Whitbeck
CNN

Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents
share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories
behind the events. Here, CNN's Harris Whitbeck describes the
destruction from Wednesday's earthquake in Peru.

PISCO, Peru (CNN) -- Five elderly nuns huddled early Friday outside
the ruins of a church that had stood for centuries, their dark
shawls tightly wrapped around their shoulders.

The nuns were standing at the edge of the ruins of the San Clemente
church in downtown Pisco, waiting for word on two of their sisters
who were buried in the rubble.

The parish priest, a robust Spaniard in his 60s, accompanied the
nuns. The group quietly observed rescue workers dig through mounds
of stones and upturned tiles.

The priest said the church was more than 300 years old. He still
couldn't understand how the entire roof collapsed on hundreds of
worshippers who were attending a funeral Mass when Wednesday's
8.0-magnitude quake struck. I couldn't understand how this man and these
women of the cloth could
remain so calm, their faith so apparently unshaken while they
contemplated the ruins of the church and the loss of people so dear
to them. I asked them about that faith.

"It's difficult times like this that it exists," the priest said.

The group spent hours waiting in the dark, cold night and into the
morning never questioning -- simply accepting what was and never
doubting that their church would some day be rebuilt.

The parish church says there could be 60 people buried under the
rubble, including the entire church choir and 15 members of the
immediate family of the person whose life was being celebrated
during the funeral mass. Watch how the quake ruined lives »

Many are buried amid the rubble at the church's entrance. When the
quake struck, those inside the church rushed to get out. That's when
the roof came smashing down on top of them.

Rescue workers are now digging around the entrance of the church. On
Thursday night, family members stood outside the church, watching and
waiting. Every time a body would be pulled out, they would rush
toward it to see if they could identify the remains.

About 100 bodies -- some from the church, others from elsewhere in
the town -- were taken to the city square and laid there. The
bodies were covered with shrouds. People walked among the bodies
trying to identify loved ones, an eerie feeling amid the destruction.

Throughout the Peru town, people are living in the streets outside
the rubble of what used to be their homes. Many use wood from their
destroyed homes to try to stay warm at night; temperatures are in
the 50s at night here. They're most fearful of aftershocks, and at
least two jolted the region Friday morning.

One man I came across was in mourning outside his home. He lives
across the street from a cemetery and owns a flower stall. He
typically sells flowers to those going into the cemetery to place at
gravestones. But not on this day.

The man wept on a coffin. His house had collapsed during the quake,
and his mother was killed. There in the street, in front of what was
left of his house, he held a wake for his mother. Two little candles
were lit. He didn't have flowers, even for his own mother. He was
devastated. At the foot of the coffin, children slept. They were neighborhood
kids, wrapped in blankets, trying to get some sleep amid the chaos.