The death toll from Ecuador’s biggest earthquake in decades soared to at least 233 on Sunday as rescuers using tractors and bare hands hunted desperately for survivors in shattered coastal towns.
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck off the Pacific coast on Saturday and was felt around the Andean nation of 16m people, causing panic as far away as the highland capital Quito and collapsing buildings and roads in a swathe of western towns.
President Rafael Correa, who was rushing home from a trip to Italy, said the confirmed number of fatalities rose on Sunday to 233. “The immediate priority is to rescue people in the rubble,” he said via Tiwtter.
More than 1,500 people were injured, authorities said.
“There are people trapped in various places and we are starting rescue operations,” Vice President Jorge Glas said on Sunday morning before boarding a plane to the area.
A state of emergency was declared in six provinces.
In Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, rubble lay in the streets and a bridge fell on top of a car.
“It was terrifying, we were all scared and we’re still out in the streets because we’re worried about aftershocks,” said Guayaquil security guard Fernando Garcia.
About 13,500 security force personnel were mobilised to keep order around Ecuador, and $600 million in credit from multilateral lenders was immediately activated for the emergency, the government said.
Parts of the highland capital Quito were without power or phone service for several hours but the city government said those services had been restored and there were no reports of casualties in the city.
The government called it the worst quake in the country since 1979. In that disaster, 600 people were killed and 20,000 injured, according to the US Geological Survey.
Among international aid, Venezuela and Mexico were sending personnel and supplies, the Correa government said.
A tsunami warning was lifted on Saturday night but coastal residents were urged to seek higher ground in case tides rise.
The OPEC member said oil production was not affected, but closed its main refinery of Esmeraldas, located near the epicenter, as a precautionary measure.
The Ecuadorean quake followed two large and deadly quakes that struck Japan since Thursday. Both countries are located on the seismically active “Ring of Fire” that circles the Pacific, but according to the US Geological Survey large quakes separated by such long distances would probably not be related.
“Even the earth’s rocky crust is not rigid enough to transfer stress efficiently over thousands of miles,” it said on its web site. Quakes can cause other big quakes within a range of hundreds of miles, but can cause only small, brief quakes at a distance of thousands of miles, it said.
- See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/2016/apr/18/earthquake-kills-233-ecuador#sthash.d7WCuVNp.dpuf
Thursday, April 25, 2024
