Ecuador quake toll likely to rise further

THE most powerful earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades has killed 272 people – a toll that will “certainly” rise, President Rafael Correa said, as overwhelmed rescuers yesterday struggled to pull survivors from piles of debris.

The 7.8-magnitude quake struck the small, oil-producing South American nation late on Saturday, shattering hotels and homes along its Pacific coast popular with tourists and reducing several towns to rubble.

More than 2 000 people were injured as structures tumbled during the quake and its dozens of aftershocks.

The capital Quito, farther inland, escaped with cracked walls and power outages, and the country’s strategic oil facilities appeared unscathed, officials said.

But along the coast, the devastation prompted neighbouring Colombia, as well as quakeexperienced Mexico and El Salvador, to rush in rescue personnel to help out.

In Portoviejo, a city 15km from the coast, the temblor knocked down walls in a prison, allowing 100 inmates to escape.

Some were recaptured or returned later, but police were hunting the others, Justice Minister Ledy Zuniga tweeted.

Elsewhere in hard-hit Portoviejo, the stench of decaying bodies began to fill the air as rescuers raced to find survivors.

“We have already recovered three dead and we believe there are 10 to 11 people still trapped,” said one worker.

Officials have declared a state of emergency in the worst-hit provinces, and a national state of “exception”, both of which suspend certain civil rights and liberties to allow security forces and officials to react faster.

President Correa visited the disaster zone on Sunday after cutting short an official trip to the Vatican. “There are still lots of bodies in the rubble,” he warned. “These are extremely difficult times, the biggest tragedy in the last 67 years.”

Correa refered to the August 1949 earthquake near the central Ecuadorian city of Ambato that killed some 5 000 people. — AFP