This morning Ecuador finds itself in a state of emergency after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit the Pacific Coast Saturday night in one of the most violent quakes the country has seen in decades.
According to Jorge Glas, the nation’s vice president, the quake has since claimed the lives of 77 while injuring an estimated 588 more.
“We’re trying to do the most we can but there’s almost nothing we can do,” says Gabriel Alcivar, mayor of Pedernales, a town of 40,000 near the quake’s epicenter.
“This wasn’t just a house that collapsed, it was an entire town,” he continued.
He’s asked officials to send earth-moving machines and emergency rescue workers to the town where dozens of buildings were flattened, trapping residents beneath the rubble. He stated that among the chaos, looting broke out but authorities were too busy trying to save lives to bring about order.
The Red Cross reports that over 1,200 volunteers have already begun working in rescue, evacuation and first aid operations. Ecuador’s Risk Management agency says that 10,000 armed forces personnel have been deployed along the coastal areas to help those most affected while 3,500 national police have been sent to the towns of Manabí, Esmeraldas and Guayas y Santa Elena, and 500 firefighters have been sent to Manabí and Pedernales.
President Rafael Correa, en route from a shortened visit in Rome, signed a decree declaring a national emergency. He is expected to be back in the country by Sunday afternoon.
Along the coast, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said hazardous tsunami waves were possible for some coasts. While the government hadn’t issued a tsunami alert, towns near the epicenter were evacuated as a precautionary measure.
“It’s very important that Ecuadoreans remain calm during this emergency,” Glas said from Ecuador’s national crisis room.
The earthquake comes only as the latest in deadly quakes across the Pacific. Thursday, a magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck near Japan’s Kumamoto, only to be followed by a magnitude-7.3 quake only 28 hours later, marking up a death toll last seen at 41 with 1,500 reported injured.
