ECUADOR QUAKE TOLL HITS 350, LIKELY TO RISE, SAYS PRESIDENT
PORTOVIEJO: The death toll from Ecuador’s worst earthquake in decades rose to 350 on Monday while traumatised survivors rested amid the rubble of their homes and rescuers dug for survivors in the Andean nation’s shattered coastal region.
At least 2,068 people were also injured in Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude quake that ripped apart buildings and roads and knocked out power.
Giving the new tally of fatalities from the city of Portoviejo inside the disaster zone, President Rafael Correa said he feared the number would rise even further.
“Reconstruction will cost billions of dollars,” he also said, chatting with victims and appearing deeply moved as he toured the shattered town in the OPEC nation whose economy was already reeling from the global slump in crude oil prices.
Further north, in the beach locality of Pedernales, survivors curled up on mattresses or plastic chairs next to flattened homes. Soldiers and police patrolled the hot, dark streets overnight while pockets of rescue workers plowed on.
At one point, firefighters entered a partially destroyed house to search for three children and a man apparently trapped inside, as a crowd of 40 gathered in the darkness to watch.
“My little cousins are inside. Before, there were noises, screams. We must find them,” pleaded Isaac, 18, as the firemen combed the debris.
AT LEAST 2,068 PEOPLE WERE ALSO INJURED IN THE 7.8 MAGNITUDE QUAKE THAT RIPPED BUILDINGS, ROADS APART
to the court to show him arrested in this case,” Sorder said, adding that hearings would be held next week.
An elderly pro-opposition editor was arrested on Saturday on the same charge, the latest in a series of detentions of journalists. Shafik Rehman, an 81-year-old magazine editor, was detained over what was termed a plot to kill Hasina’s son in the United States.
Rehman, who is also a British citizen, is not a member of Bangladesh’s main opposition party but was a speechwriter for its leader Khaleda Zia, who has for years been involved in a bitter feud with Hasina.