Ecuador earthquake death toll jumps as daylight reveals scale of devastation

Sunday 17 Apr 2016 4:50 pm

Volunteers rescue a body from a destroyed house in Pedernales (Picture: AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A desperate search is continuing for survivors of the biggest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades with the death toll now at least 233.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific coast on Saturday causing buildings and roads to collapse in a swathe of western towns.

Coastal areas nearest the epicentre were worst affected including the tourist hot spot of Pedernales, where there have been numerous aftershocks.
More than 1,500 people are injured, authorities said, but information from the region is scarce due to poor communications and transport chaos.

The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast (Picture: AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A woman cries as volunteers search for the body of her daughter amid the debris of a destroyed house (Picture: AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

The death toll sat at least 233 on Sunday (Picture: AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

People have been searching for their belongings amid the debris of their destroyed homes (Picture: AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A state of emergency has been declared in six provinces.
‘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.
‘There are villages totally devastated,” Pedernales’ mayor Gabriel Alcivar told local radio, adding that “dozens and dozens” had died in the rustic zone.

More than 1,500 people have been injured in the natural disaster (Picture: EPA/JOSE JACOME)

Damage is extensive after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake (Picture: EPA/JOSE JACOME)

A collapsed house in Guayaquil (Picture: JOSE SANCHEZ L/AFP/Getty Images)

Afallen building after a 7.8-magnitude quake in Portoviejo (Picture:JUAN CEVALLOS/AFP/Getty Images)

It is the worst earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades (Picture: JUAN CEVALLOS/AFP/Getty Images)

‘What happened here in Pedernales is catastrophic.’
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 United States Geological Survey.

View of a damaged building after a 7.8-magnitude quake in Portoviejo, Ecuador on April 17, 2016. At least 77 people were killed when a powerful earthquake struck Ecuador, destroying buildings and a bridge and sending terrified residents scrambling from their homes, authorities said Sunday. (Picture: JUAN CEVALLOS/AFP/Getty Images

View of a vehicle squashed by rubble (Picture: JUAN CEVALLOS/AFP/Getty Image)

(Picture: JUAN CEVALLOS/AFP/Getty Images)

People inspect the damage of a collapsed building in Pedernales (Picture: EPA/JOSE JACOME)

About 13,500 security force personnel have been mobilised to keep order around Ecuador, and $600 million in credit from multilateral lenders has been immediately activated for the emergency, the government said.
Ramon Solorzano, 46, a car parts merchant in the coastal city of Manta, said he was leaving with his family.
‘Most people are out in the streets with backpacks on, heading for higher ground,’ Solorzano said, speaking in a trembling voice on a WhatsApp phone call.
‘The streets are cracked. The power is out and phones are down.’
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.
A tsunami warning was lifted on Saturday night but coastal residents were urged to seek higher ground in case tides rise.
‘At first it was light, but it lasted a long time and got stronger,” said Maria Jaramillo, 36, a resident of Guayaquil, describing windows breaking and pieces falling off roofs.
‘I was on the seventh floor and the light went off in the whole sector, and we evacuated. People were very anxious in the street … We left barefoot.’