Relief agencies, including some linked to churches, have criticized the El Salvador government's response to the earthquake that devastated this Central American nation January 13, killing at least 700 people.

In a January 22 update on the effects of the disaster, the Lutheran World Federation's (LWF) office in El Salvador criticized the "inefficient, publicity-oriented, preferential and political manner in which bilateral government [aid] has been received, coordinated and distributed."

"While seismic aftershocks following the earthquake of January 13 have become less frequent, the political aftershocks promise to increase in intensity for some time to come," the report said.

There have been numerous complaints, both by aid groups and by survivors of the earthquake, that the national government, headed by the conservative ARENA party, has in some cases favored its supporters in the distribution of assistance. This, observers said, was one of the unfortunate legacies of a bloody and polarizing decade-long civil war that ended in 1992 and resulted in 75,000 deaths.

"The situation here is one of polarization", said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, LWF's representative in El Salvador. Because of understaffing and an inability to reach some communities, the government was relying on help from aid agencies.

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"The government cannot respond to a disaster of this magnitude," Bueno de Faria said.

The government has been sharply criticized for, among other things, its failure to implement a national emergency plan before the earthquake. The region is particularly susceptible to natural disasters. El Salvador experienced a devastating earthquake in1986 that killed 1,000 people, and in 1998 was one of the nations hit by Hurricane Mitch.

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