Seven members of the LDS Church are confirmed dead as a result of Wednesday's 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Peru that killed more than 500 people, said church spokesman Scott Trotter.

Fourteen members were seriously injured, and 70 homes were destroyed or badly damaged, Trotter said.

Some 600 to 700 church members and their families are being housed temporarily at church meeting houses, Trotter said. While several meeting houses had cracked walls, Trotter said, "no church buildings were destroyed or severely damaged."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints earlier had reported that all of its missionaries in Peru were safe and that there was little or no damage to the LDS temple or the Missionary Training Center in Lima.

The church has more than 430,000 members, 735 congregations and seven missions in Peru. The Associated Press reported this morning that the earthquake killed at least 510 people and left 1,003 more injured.

Trotter said the LDS Church is sending a cargo plane loaded with "vitally needed items" such as medical supplies, surgical instruments, hygiene items and family food boxes.

In an e-mail late Thursday to the Deseret Morning News, Elder Ralph Peck and his wife, Sister Roberta Peck, said relief efforts are underway.

"There is a lot of activity at the Church Administrative Offices, and it appears evident that a large welfare/humanitarian services effort (is) underway," the missionary couple wrote. "There was talk that a cargo plane was coming in from Utah with emergency supplies."

Jorge Arce-Larreta, president and chief executive officer of Alliance Community Services, was in Peru, visiting his mother in Trujillo, when the quake hit and is in Lima today.

"What strikes me the most is to see that injured people are still, after two days, waiting to be evacuated to Lima, and the logistic recovery effort is a nightmare here," he said in an e-mail. "You can see lines of injured people in the most affected cities, waiting to be taken by plane to Lima for better care."

Arce-Larreta says plenty of aid is arriving in the form of basic necessities such as food, blankets, medicine and tents.

"I have been happily surprised with the willingness of people here in Peru to help," he said. "Main concern is what will happen to people who lost their homes."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com