Ecuador quake toll climbs over 400; ‘billions’ in damage seen
PORTOVIEJO/ PEDERNALES, ECUADOR — Touring a city ravaged by the earthquake that killed at least 413 people, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Monday said rebuilding would cost billions of dollars and may inflict a “huge” toll on the fragile OPEC nation’s economy.
Two days after the magnitude 7.8 quake, traumatized survivors begged Mr. Correa for water in the city of Portoviejo, while a soccer stadium in the beach town of Pedernales served as a makeshift relief center and morgue.
Afraid of staying indoors, or with no home to go back to, families huddled in the streets, while police and soldiers patrolled in a bid to control looting.
Seeing the devastation firsthand, a visibly moved and grimfaced Mr. Correa warned that Ecuador’s biggest disaster in decades would put a big toll on the poor Andean country of 16 million people.
“Reconstruction will cost billions of dollars,” said Mr. Correa in Portoviejo, where survivors swarmed him asking for aid. The economic impact “could be huge,” he added later.
Plunging income from oil, Ecuador’s biggest earner, had already consigned economic growth forecasts to near zero this year, and exports of bananas, flowers, cocoa beans and fish could be slowed by ruined roads and port delays.
The energy industry, fortunately, escaped any serious damage, and the main refinery of Esmeraldas was due to start up again on Monday night and reach full capacity in a week.
Michael Henderson of risk consultancy Maplecroft said Ecuador was less well-equipped to recover than Chile, where a 2010 earthquake caused an estimated $30 billion in damage.
“Whereas Chile’s economy was rebounding strongly from the global financial crisis..., Ecuador has been slowing sharply recently as lower oil prices depress activity,” he said.
“But total damage to assets in dollar terms may be quite a bit lower than in Chile due to the smaller magnitude of the earthquake and the fact that Ecuador is a much poorer country.”
To finance the costs of the emergency, some $600 million in credit from multilateral lenders was immediately activated, the government said.
Ecuador also announced late on Monday that it had signed off on a credit line for $2 billion from the China Development Bank (CDB) to finance public investment. China has been the largest financier of Ecuador since 2009, and the credit had been under negotiation before the quake.
The disaster may also push Mr. Correa, a leftist, to seek help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), consultancy Eurasia said.
“Such dynamics increase the odds of Correa turning to an IMF Program for support, an option he has so far resisted, and the earthquake could provide him with political cover to do so,” it said.
The quake struck Saturday night along the northwest coast, while Mr. Correa was in Italy.
Some survivors have complained about lack of electricity and supplies, and aid had still not reached some areas. The number of injured rose to over 2,600.
Fears of looting spread as, in Portoviejo, people stole clothes and shoes from wrecked buildings and police tried to control crowds. A former social security building was ransacked for aluminum window frames and cables by people hoping to sell the materials.
Elsewhere, armed men robbed two trucks carrying water, clothes and other basics to quake- hit beach locality Pedernales.
Over 300 aftershocks rattled the stricken region, leaving survivors huddled in the streets, fearful that their already damaged homes would cave in.
The government has mobilized about 13,500 security personnel to the affected areas.
Nearly 400 rescue workers flew in from various Latin American neighbors, along with 83 specialists from Switzerland and Spain. The United States said it would dispatch a team of disaster experts while Cuba was sending a team of doctors.