Rescuers pulled survivors from rubble Sunday after the strongest
earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and buckled
highways along its Pacific coast. Officials said the quake had killed at
least 238 people and injured more than 1,500.
The
magnitude-7.8 quake, the strongest to hit Ecuador since 1979, was
centered on Ecuador's sparsely populated fishing ports and tourist
beaches, 105 miles (170 kilometers) northwest of Quito, the capital
Vice
President Jorge Glas reported the death toll at a somber news
conference, while President Rafael Correa flew back from Rome to deal
with the crisis. He said 1,557 people were injured
Glas
said there were deaths in the cities of Manta, Portoviejo and Guayaquil
— all several hundred kilometers (miles) from the center of the quake,
which struck shortly after nightfall Saturday.
In
Pedernales, a town of 40,000 near the quake's epicenter, dozens of
frightened residents slept in the streets while men equipped with little
more than car headlights tried to rescue survivors who could be heard
trapped under the rubble.
Alcivar
pleaded for authorities to send earth-moving machines and rescue
workers to help find people in the rubble. He said looting had broken
out amid the chaos but authorities were too busy trying to save lives to
re-establish order
"This wasn't just a house that collapsed. It was an entire town," he said
Correa declared a national emergency and urged Ecuadoreans to stay strong.
"Everything
can be rebuilt, but what can't be rebuilt are human lives, and that's
the most painful," he said in a telephone call to state TV before
departing Rome for Manta.
Glas
said the country had already deployed 10,000 armed forces. In addition,
4,600 national police were sent to towns near the epicenter.
Would-be
rescuers scrambled through the ruins in the provincial capital
Portoviejo, digging with their hands to find survivors. As officials set
up shelters and field hospitals, residents said they felt like their
entire town had been flattened.
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