Nearly 300 Dead In Ecuador Deadly Earthquake
KABUL: (MEP) Authorities announced that almost 300 people dead, some 2500 wounded and many more buildings were destroyed as military rushes to deliver aid.
The magnitude-7.8 quake struck on Saturday evening.
The death toll has soared to 272, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa said Sunday evening. That number is expected to rise as rescue teams dig through the rubble, he said.
“Thank you to the whole world for solidarity,” Correa, who cut short a trip to Italy to return home, wrote on Twitter. “Our infinite love to the families of the dead.”
Correa, who toured the coastal city of Manta to get a firsthand look at the damage Sunday, said later: “The immediate priority is to rescue people in the rubble. Everything can be rebuilt, but lives cannot be recovered, and that’s what hurts the most.”
In some areas people are using their bare hands to try to dig out survivors.
“I was in a high-rise in downtown, on the sixth floor,” Antonio Torres, a 32-year-old who works as a delivery man in Guayaquil, told Al Jazeera.
“I ran down the stairwell to escape the building, which felt like it was going to fall.”
The tower Torres was in stayed standing, but many others collapsed.
“Homes, entire apartment complexes, and several bridges all collapsed. It was very strong,” he said.
