An Algerian flag flaps on top of the rubble of a building in the town of Bordj-Menaiel, east of Algiers

REGHAIA, Algeria, May 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Once again sniffer dogs nosing through the rubble; once again desperate searches; once again the spectacle of exhausted rescue workers: the deadly earthquake and subsequent aftershocks in northern Algeria are driving the weary and demoralized victims to despair as Northern Algeria was rocked early Wednesday by the second strong aftershock in the space of 12 hours.

"Everyone has had enough. Everyone is sick. We can't go on," Said Toukal told Agence France-Presse (AFP) said two hours after the town of Reghaia, east of the capital Algiers, had trembled from a violent aftershock from last week's earthquake that killed at least 2,200.

The evening before his brother Hacene had gone into a 15-storey building, still upright but leaning at an angle, to look for blankets and family valuables.

He appeared at a seventh floor window. And then the ground began to shake. The building collapsed.

Throughout the night teams of rescue workers toiled to shift the rubble. People from the 13th floor were found, said Captain Said Bellal of the Algerian civil defense force.

Two passers-by, caught in the collapse, were brought out alive. But not Hacene.

"People went in without thinking. The building was tottering. My brother was scared. But if you've got jewelry in your house, you want to get it," said Said.

The aftershocks have been the last straw for many here.

"My daughter is trying to prepare for her school-leaving exam in a tent. She told me: 'I'm giving up my studies.' As her father I should be an outlet for her stress. But I am the one who’s more stressed!"

Bus driver Abelaziz Ouzaid says he is "morally drained." Ali Issolah, retired, blames some experts -- and in particular those from France -- for being partly responsible for people lowering their guard.

"They said on the radio that the aftershocks would keep getting weaker. That gave people confidence," he remarks bitterly.

Northern Algeria was rocked early Wednesday by the second strong aftershock in the space of 12 hours, following last week's deadly earthquake that killed at least 2,200 people.

The latest shock hit near the capital Algiers at 7:57 a.m. (0657 GMT), with local seismologists recording the intensity at 5.2 points on the open-ended Richter scale.

Radio stations broadcast appeals from experts calling on people not to panic but also warning them to expect further aftershocks.

The epicenter of Wednesday morning's tremor was in Zemmoria, a region already hard-hit by last week's massive earthquake and located some 70 kilometers (45 miles) east of the capital Algiers, state radio said.

On Tuesday, May 27, night a major aftershock caused more buildings to collapse. Some 330 were lightly injured as they fled in panic in after the tremor. The shock, whose epicenter was also in the Zemmoria region, measured 5.8 points on the Richter scale.

Once again thousands of people abandoned their cracked and gaping buildings to sleep in the open. Some leapt from windows. Others have stopped talking or had breakdowns.

Most local people in Algiers appeared to react calmly to Wednesday morning's aftershock, which came as the morning rush hour was building up and people were on the way to work.

There had been scenes of panic 12 hours earlier when the first of the major aftershocks was felt.

Staff at the Algerian center for research in astrophysics, astronomy and geophysics (CRAAG) said that the aftershocks were a normal consequence of the original tremor.

Thousands of people have been made homeless by last week's quake, the worst the north African country had suffered in 23 years.

As many as 100,000 people have been living outside for the past week, due to fears that buildings might collapse.

Algerians had thought they were finished with shock and had moved on to dealing with their grief.

"Merchants Of Death"

Algerian rescuer workers distribute drinking water and clothes to inhabitants of Zemmouri near Boumerdes, east of Algiers

These emotions for many have turned into a bitter rage over the heavy loss of life, blamed on corrupt property developers dubbed "merchants of death" exacerbated by a chaotic initial response to the crisis.

Hundreds are assumed to have perished as emergency services turned up late or not at all.

Many were trapped in buildings that had clearly not been quake-proofed, in violation of regulations on the books since 1980 when Algeria's worst quake struck, killing some 3,000.

"It's the builders who killed people, not the earthquake," said the uncle of eight-year-old Hassiba Yazi, who was rescued from the rubble of an apartment building erected when she was five.

At a tent camp where some of Hassiba's former neighbors are sheltering, the trauma of May 21 was evident in the drawings of children newly homeless or orphaned or both -- mainly of nice houses in the countryside that they remember from summer camp.

Many Algerians are resigned to a fate that has dealt them natural calamities like earthquakes and floods on top of a brutal civil war in which some 150,000 people have been killed.

"We are an unhappy people in a rich country," a waiter said, ticking off the resources that should bring prosperity: oil, sunny beaches, a vast Saharan backyard.

Instead half the country lives in poverty and nearly a third of those who want to work are jobless.